Germany’s T-Mobile iPhone Sales Lagging?
Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) has lost their case in Germany to stop T-Mobile from selling the iPhone exclusively, but their court battle may have damaged sales at their rival German network. According to Bloomberg which picked up a story from the Financial Times Deutschland, T-Mobile is selling less than 700 iPhones a day, a figure far off their own internal forecasts. T-Mobile sold 10,000 units the first day it launched the iPhone and in the run-up to Christmas, popular mobile devices can also sell up to 10,000 a day. Last week, T-Mobile said it would review sales of their locked iPhones and would consider suing Vodafone for damages if it revealed their court case had hurt them.
Meanwhile, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is clamping down on Asian retailers selling unlocked iPhones over the internet and at their stores. Apple sent an email to shopkeepers in Singapore threatening to sue for $1000 Singapore dollars ($693) for every illegal iPhone they sold. Still, Apple’s efforts to shut down the sales of unlocked iPhones are beginning to resemble a game of whack-a-mole. Though Singaporean retailers pulled the phones from their shelves, in the UK there are some 700 unlocked units currently on sale on Ebay (via The Times).
Update: Apple has raised the limit on the number of iPhones that can be purchased at one time in the US and UK from two to five, Wired has confirmed. It says, “No word yet on why the limit was increased, but as earlier reports indicate, Apple probably discovered it had sufficient units on hand to meet Holiday demand.” That’s certainly plausible, but it’s also possible that Apple put the limits in place to try and protect sales in Germany and France—and with sales in the former apparently lagging, the company could be looking to try and boost sales.
Related StoriesPosted In: Companies, Apple, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Countries, Europe, Germany
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