As Apple’s European iPhone plans get closer to reality, the details of each arrangement are beginning to see the light of day. O2 is set to announce the iPhone on their UK network on Tuesday, but the agreement didn’t come easy for the carrier. The Guardian is reporting that O2 will be forced to hand over up to 40% of their iPhone service revenues to Apple. In addition to the service tariffs, O2 will be sharing device commission and revenue with Carphone Warehouse, which is a 3rd party handset retailer that has reportedly signed on as the exclusive brick and mortar retailer of the device. We can all agree that the iPhone is a groundbreaking piece of hardware, but is this sort of agreement really going to benefit O2, or any other carrier that sees fit to sign on with similar conditions? Considering the recent availability of the iPhone SIM unlock.

This may be very good news for UK iPhone customers, if 40% of the monthly price is going to Apple, they might have the opportunity to make the price lower and attract a lot more customers to the phone on launch day.

Filed under: Apple