iPhone UK launch: Does The Cloud Wi-Fi deal mean no Apple / Starbucks partnership in the UK?

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Right, so Apple has announced that the iPhone will go on sale in the UK on 9th November, and us Brits will have free access to over 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspot run by The Cloud, which includes McDonalds, several football clubs and the entire financial district in London.

But what about Starbucks? In the US, Apple has tied up a deal with the coffee retailer to offer free Wi-Fi to iPhone and iPod Touch users, yet here in the UK, Starbucks’ Wi-Fi hotspots are run by… T-Mobile. Which is a rival to O2, the exclusive UK mobile operator for iPhone.

European iPhone deal nearing completion: O2, Orange, T-Mobile sign revenue-sharing deal with Apple, sources claim

When you see the headline “Apple secures Europe iPhone revenue deals” in a respected paper like the Financial Times, you take notice, because it reads as if a deal has been done with Apple and at least one mobile network to distribute the iPhone in Europe.

“Apple has succeeded in committing European mobile phone operators that want exclusively to sell its new iPhone to share parts of their revenues with the technology group,” the article begins.

“The contract, which was signed by three European mobile operators in recent days, requires that the operators hand over to Apple 10 per cent of the revenues made from calls and data transfers by customers over iPhones.”

“The contract was signed by T-Mobile of Germany, Orange of France and O2 in the UK, people familiar with the situation told FT Deutschland, the Financial Times’s sister paper.”

There’s the crunch. “People familiar with the situation”. In other words, “unnamed sources”. In other words… rumour.

Shiny Video Interview: Kat chats to Richard Warmsley, Head of Internet on the Move at T-Mobile UK


Last Thursday I grabbed a few minutes to chat with Richard Warmsley, Head of Internet on the Move at T-Mobile UK, about their Web ‘n Walk, Music Jukebox and other services available to customers. And also to tease him about his straight-to-the-point job title. Hey, it’s better than Communications Manager, non?…

T-Mobile launches Pocket Comedy TV on its mobile TV trial service

mobix.gifT-Mobile has announced that it’s launching Pocket Comedy TV on its trial mobile TV service. The specially designed-for-mobile TV channel from Mobix will feature a range of stand-up and TV comedy, as well as cartoons and viral comedy clips, with comedians including Ricky Gervais, Lee Evans and Jack Dee, and programmes including Father Ted and League of Gentlemen.

Though details are a little sketchy (uh ha ha), the promise is that the channel has been designed specifically with mobile users on small screens in mind – presumably rather than simply being ported from other formats – and the content is updated regularly.