madcomments

Why is O2 taking on the iPhone?

Posted in General, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs July 9th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

Months ago I had a meeting with some mobile publishers and told them that O2 was going to get the iPhone contract, why? Because they’re big and British (sort of) and they have the best coverage.

However, my contact told me he had heard that Vodafone that was tipped to get it and its key man, Arun Sarin, was said to have a “good relationship” with Steve Jobs. The two had even held private talks about a deal.

However, when news broke it could be O2, Vodafone maintained its dignity and basically made out that it had decided it didn’t want the contract anyway.

So why should the contract be awarded to O2? 

While no one at O2, or Apple for that matter, can confirm the news that the telecoms giant is ‘close’ to signing a contract, a press representative did say “Well we are the biggest provider in the UK.”

That said to me that there is a certain amount of snobbery over the race to distribute the iPhone. O2 thinks it deserves the contract. Why? Because it is failing to compete with the slightly cooler, more innovative carries such as T-Mobile and Orange. It needs the iPhone to reinvent its image.

While the O2 Dome and O2 Wireless are pretty cool, they don’t match up to T-Mobile’s own TV show (Transmissions) or the cool Street Gigs that included a private party in a circus tent with Mika.

Orange has its Orange Wednesdays and those cool cinema ads. Basically, Orange and T-Mobile are ‘cool’ and have wide appeal to the younger market, which are those that have an iPod, go to gigs and will probably be the ones camping in front of the store the night before to get their hands on the iPhone! 

O2’s appeal to the younger generation as a mobile operator is off the radar. It needs the iPhone more than anyone else in order compete with the cool kids and enlist some younger customers.