Vodafone Gets iPhone Too!!!
The move comes the day after rival Orange became the first operator to break into O2’s exclusive deal to sell the device.
British mobile phone operators have been locked in highly secretive talks over the new deal for about a year, but it is understood Vodafone’s deal was only signed last night. The announcement is expected at 9am today.
Without securing the rights to the iPhone, Vodafone faced the prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of its customers to rivals O2 and Orange.
Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, has said that not having the iPhone was a key reason why the operator lost 159,000 customers in its latest quarter.
Opening up the phone to a third operator will almost certainly result in a price war that will see more than £100 knocked off the price of the iPhone.
“There will be a price war,” said Steven Hartley, analyst at technology research house Ovum. “Research shows that in every country where there is more than one operator selling it, it is cheaper.
“It could be very disruptive, but it depends how Orange play it. If they get really aggressive O2 will have to respond and a full-on price war could start.”
Mr Hartley said he expects the contract tariff for the iPhone to come down by about £4 to £5 a month, which would cut up to £120 off the price of the phone on a 24-month contract.
The 16GB iPhone 3GS costs £96.89 on a £44.05-a-month contract with O2. Orange refused to give details of its contract terms but indicated that it would be cheaper than O2′s deals.
The iPhone has transformed the British mobile phone market since it was launched in November 2007. O2 has sold more than 1m of the devices and credits it with enabling the operator to increase its market dominance.
Virgin Mobile are also understood to be desperate to secure the right to sell the iPhone.
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