Tuesday, May 20,2008 @ 9:25am
T-Mobile: German iPhone to stay exclusive
The iPhone will likely remain a T-Mobile exclusive in Germany, says the company's CEO. "We have a very good relationship with Apple...at least in Germany it is exclusive, and we expect it to remain as such," Hamid Akhavan is quoted as saying by Reuters. The comment comes in response to a string of non-exclusive deals in countries such as Italy and Austria, reversing a trend in which Apple insisted that any country with the iPhone have only one official carrier. Other regions currently operating on exclusive contracts include the US, the UK, Ireland and France.
The 3G iPhone -- whose arrival is anticipated in June by analysts and the media -- is unlikely to change the situation in Germany, says Akhavan. "If and when there is a 3G iPhone we expect to have it exclusively in Germany as well," he comments. The non-exclusive deals are expected to forego the original 2.5G phone.
T-Mobile recently enacted sharp discounts on current 8GB models, dropping their price to as little as €99 ($154) with the most expensive voice and data plan. This and a number of other factors have suggested that Apple may be deliberately draining stock, in a bid to avoid being caught with outdated, unsaleable technology.