iPhone boosts O2’s earnings, heads for Ireland
The iPhone has been very good to O2 in the U.K.
Apple’s (AAPL) British-accented partner reported yesterday that the iPhone has become its fastest selling device, helping the U.K. division of Telefonica (TEF) achieve its strongest quarter on record. Sales were up 9.5 percent in the last quarter of 2007 — the first to show the effects of the iPhone. O2 did not provide sales figures for the iPhone alone, but it did say that the device helped add 483,000 customers and 276,000 contracts to its roster.
According to O2, the iPhone has the highest satisfaction rating and the lowest return rate of any phone in its lineup. Moreover, iPhone users generate roughly 30 percent more revenue per user than the carrier’s average customer.
O2 also announced today that starting March 14, it will be offering the iPhone for sale in Ireland — only the fifth country authorized to carry the phone (after the U.S., U.K., France and Germany). For pricing details, see the Irish Times’ report here.
In remarks yesterday at a Goldman Sachs technology symposium, Apple COO Tim Cook said his company will be cutting more deals in both Europe and Asia to reach its sales target of 10 million iPhones in 2008. See Apple’s COO calms the waters.
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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
