Macworld UK has a story today headlined ‘Vodafone denies iPhone partner plan’. But reading the story fails to turn up any sort of denial. The only quote from a Vodafone representative calls the rumour ‘pure speculation.’ In my experience ‘pure speculation’ is the phrase companies use when they’re in negotiation but can’t comment publicly. ‘No, never, not while there’s a breath left in our body’ is the kind of thing they say when they want to issue a denial.
So, contrary to the headline, Vodafone, when given the opportunity, actually failed to deny that it will be the carrier for the iPhone in Europe.
That’s not suprising, even if it hasn’t been approached by Apple thus far, Vodafone would be foolish to rule it out. And, as Shaw WU pointed out in his reserch note for American Technology Research, there’s a very good reason why Apple would want Vodafone on board — it has the kind of pan European customer base that most carriers can only dream of.
