Further Rumours That O2 to Lose iPhone Exclusivity

Telefonica O2 is widely expected to be about to lose its exclusivity in the UK market for selling the Apple iPhone handsets, with some reports suggesting that other operators will sell the phone from early October.

The ME magazine, citing an internal document has gone further and put a specific date of 9th October on when other networks will start selling the handset.

The company, which started selling the phone in November 2007 has never disclosed how long its exclusivity period would last for, but it has been generally thought to have been a two-year contract. Apple dropped its plans to sign up a single operator in each country last year when it launched its second generation iPhone.

O2 has not commented beyond saying "We have a multi-year exclusive deal with Apple which remains in place and both parties are very happy with it."

O2 has also recently secured the exclusive rights to resell the Palm Pre, which has been labeled by reviewers as a competitor to the iPhone.

On the web: ME magazine

Posted to the site on 6th August 2009