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Wed, 25 Nov 2009 Tesco Mobile to start selling Apple's iPhone

Supermarket giant gets the iPhone

Nick Spence

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In a short press release Tesco, the supermarket chain, has announced it will start selling Apple's iPhone under a joint venture with the UK's original iPhone provider, O2.

"Tesco Mobile through its joint venture partnership with O2 is pleased to announce that it will shortly introduce iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in Tesco Phone Shops and online through Tesco Direct in the UK," Tesco said in a statement. The supermarket giant is one of the world's best-known brands.

Tesco Mobile is a 50:50 joint venture between Tesco and O2. The company sells exclusively Tesco Mobile branded services in Tesco stores, online and through Tesco Direct, across the UK using O2’s technology and network. Dedicated Tesco Phone Shops will number over 100 by the end of 2009 according to the supermarket.

The news was confirmed on Twitter. "Great news that our joint venture Tesco Mobile will be selling the iPhone too!"

A dedicated Tesco iPhone website is here.

Clearly the deal will raise the profile of the iPhone further. Tesco has a total of 2,282 stores in the UK, with 286,394 employees and 4,308 stores worldwide with 468,508 staff, with a presence in China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, UK and the USA.

Reportedly, one pound in every seven spent on the High Street is spent at Tesco.

Tesco Mobile offers a range of mobiles under Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go deals. Tesco has yet to confirm iPhone pricing. "@floppyarms You'd need to speak to Tesco about pricing," O2 said via Twitter.

O2, Orange, Tesco Mobile and early next year Vodafone, all now sell the iPhone. T-Mobile is likely to follow suite in a tie-up with Orange. Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom earlier this month signed a final agreement to combine T-Mobile UK and Orange UK operations.

Last year, Tesco Mobile was ranked the number one pre-pay mobile telephone provider for customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 UK Mobile Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study.

In July this year, Tesco announced an unlimited mobile deal offering unlimited minutes, texts and browsing for £30 a month. "“We believe that this will change the way people use their mobile phones. The new tariff aims to give people a simple, guaranteed way to have unlimited calls, texts and browsing," Lance Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Mobile and Tesco Telecoms said at the time.

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Comments received


cardy said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

Correct me if I'm wrong but, if I can unlock my (PAYG) iPhone from O2's clutches, then surely I can use any network's SIM in it

Anon said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

Every Little Helps ;-)

Drew said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

I'm surprised Apple are letting them, Tesco is not exactly a 'premium' brand

@Drew said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

I've always seen the iPhone as more of a LIDL brand.

vader said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

ahh, hear that sound?

it's apple plummeting in the 'brands of value' list...

@vader said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

That, and shipping broken iMac's without any damage on the packaging. Great depths are being explored.

Shaun said on Wed, 25 Nov 2009

It doesn't matter how many networks sell the iPhone in the UK - if it's the same price wherever you go then it's not genuine competition and doesn't benefit the buyer.

Michael said on Fri, 27 Nov 2009

Apple wouldn't let tesco sell it if they thought for one minute it would hurt their brand - so it wont.

If in your opinion the iphone or apple has gone down as a result of this, it says a lot about you - the iphone is the coolest product on the market today... i guess you just can't afford one?

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