The iPhone, European Carriers, Steve Jobs, and the new times (oh, and Google too)
My friend Gary Mendel (CMO at eZee) pointed me to this story: Carriers Chosen for European iPhone
From the story:
Apple has chosen its carriers for the iPhone launch in Europe, according to a report published Tuesday in the Financial Times. The report, citing unnamed sources, said the chosen partners are T-Mobile Deutschland for Germany, O2 in the UK, and Orange SA for France.
The report noted that the contract, which had been signed “in recent days,” requires the carriers to pay 10 percent of revenues from calls and data transfers to the Cupertino, California-based company.
I don’t know if the above are rumors or not, but WOW! Steve Jobs rules. Steve, you are the man! No one in this Planet has done this kind of deal ever. First the deal with AT&T in the US and dictating the rules of the game, and now this in Europe. Apple is in the driver’s seat. Thanks to Apple/Steve, for creating a precedence…
Times are changing
Between Apple redefining and reshaping the handset/carrier relationships, as well as the rules of the game (and other areas such as the “mobile” web), and Google helping redefine the meaning of carrier control of the spectrum, as well as the web as the platform, things won’t be as they were — the times and the ecosystem are changing, slowly but surely, for good, right now, as we speak… Remember the year 2007.
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Kudos to Apple and Steve Jobs if it’s true but I believe it’s to early to pop the champagne corks. First iPhone has to live up to the hype both in terms of unit sales AND in driving up data traffic. If it doesn’t we’re back where we started.
And even if it does it only proves that brands who have a product of enormous consumer appeal, and are willing to give exclusivity to a carrier, can reach this kind of agreement. For now the iPhone is a glorified iPod with a call function and unless Apple officially opens it up, it won’t mean much from an application point of view.
But I do believe the eco-system is changing but only because of the enormous potential of mobility in general. The carriers are not strong enough to keep it locked up forever. And maybe Apple is one of the first snowflakes in the avalanche that will come.
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