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Tesco to sell iPhone 3G and 3GS
26 November 2009
Supermarket group Tesco is to start selling the Apple iPhone in the UK on contract and pay-as-you-go by the end of 2009
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Tesco
iPhone
Apple
O2
Telefónica
UK
Orange
Vodafone
Comment: This is the end of an icon. After two years as the mobile user’s status symbol, the iPhone is going to be available in Tesco stores across the UK from Rotherhithe to Rotherham. Tesco is already a substantial MVNO, with 1.9 million customers, all using the O2 network. Now it will be selling the iPhone in competition with O2, Orange and Vodafone in the UK — and perhaps setting the trend for other supermarkets in other countries.
The UK supermarket chain Tesco will start selling the Apple iPhone by December. The group will sell the 3G and 3GS models of the handset “shortly”, the company said.
Tesco Mobile, the company’s joint venture with Telefónica O2, is finalising details with Apple.
Tesco will sell the smart phone on contract and pay-as-you-go deals, through its bigger stores and also online on Tesco Direct. It is expected to sell the handsets at lower prices than other UK operators.
Recently, Orange and Vodafone won rights to sell the iPhone after Apple’s two-year exclusive contract with O2 ended this month. Vodafone is likely to sell the phone next year.
Tesco is planning to increase the number of specialist mobile phone shops within its larger supermarkets from 100 by the end of 2009 to 200 by the end of 2010. GTB