LONDON — The U.K.’s largest mobile phone operator by subscribers, Telefonica SA’s O2 unit, has been awarded exclusive rights to sell the iPhone, which combines a mobile phone, alongside an iPod music and video player and Internet browsing. It will begin selling on Nov. 9 for £269 ($536). The multiyear deal, announced Tuesday by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and O2’s U.K. Chief Executive Matthew Key at a press conference at Apple’s flagship Regent Street store in London, will see the iPhone sold through Carphone Warehouse PLC shops, as well as those owned by O2 and Apple. O2 has nearly 18 million subscribers in the U.K.
n the same way that Steve Jobs has struck an exclusive revenue sharing deal with wireless operator AT&T Inc. in the U.S. and now O2 in the U.K., Apple is expected to announce deals with France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile in Germany in coming days.
Source: The Wall Street Journal