“Apple’s iPhone is ‘pretty useless’ and sales in Germany have not dented new customer numbers for E-Plus, the German mobile unit of KPN, said Ad Scheepbouwer, chief executive of the Dutch telecoms company,” Michael Steen reports for The Financial TImes.
MacDailyNews Take: We own Apple iPhones. They’re about the most useful devices we own. Of course, we’re not facing the prospect of trying to compete against them like Mr. Scheepbouwer.
Steen continues, “However, speaking after KPN reported fourth-quarter results in line with expectations and an upbeat outlook, Mr Scheepbouwer also said KPN would be interested in selling the iPhone in the Netherlands, where it has yet to be launched.
“‘I had one and I thought it was a pretty useless phone, to be quite honest,’ he told the Financial Times. ‘The battery ran out in no time. I didn’t like the touch screen,'” Steen reports. “‘We’d be more than happy to sell it,’ he added. ‘We have half the market in the Netherlands and we hope we will be the party of choice.'”
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone’s battery does not “run out in no time.” Everyone we meet is enthralled with the iPhone’s multi-touch screen. Scheepbouwer’s statements simply do not match reality. Now, what kind of businessman thinks a product is “pretty useless,” but has no problem trying to sell it to his customers? Answer: A sleazy salesman who has no respect for his customers. If you think iPhone is “pretty useless” why would you want to sell it, Mr. Scheepbouwer? We can only conclude that you either do not believe that iPhone is “pretty useless” and are therefore lying to The Financial Times or you have no respect for your customers and will try to sell them “useless” products? Which is it, genius? Oh, and don’t hold your breath for a deal with Apple. On second thought, do.
Steen continues, “KPN’s E-Plus unit in Germany competes against Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, which has exclusive rights to market the phone there. But Mr Scheepbouwer said the 70,000 iPhones sold since November in Germany was ‘not a particularly impressive number’ compared with the 700,000 net new customers E-Plus gained in the fourth quarter, its fastest growth since 2000.”
Full article here.
This Scheepbouwer character sure has a funny way of laying the groundwork for a deal with Steve Jobs – or anybody, for that matter. “Your product sucks. Where do I sign so I can sell it?” That’s an, uh, interesting strategy. For some reason, we’re doubtful it’ll work.
they only got that many new customers because they have an aggressive pricing strategy. they are now one of the the cheapest provider here in germany with 10 cents a minute and are not susidizing phones a lot of phone models anymore. no problem to add 700.000 new cheap customers with an average monthly bill of 10-15 euros versus the now probably 100.000 t-mobile customers with monthly bills of approxametly 75 euros. which customers would you like to have?
mdn word: “science” as in “this is not rocket science”
@ralph from berlin… thanks for the reality check. It’s like, “We lose a Mark on every sale, but we make it up on volume.”
Also a good take from MDN on this one.
Ad Scheepbouwer is pretty useless.
MW: “reaction”, as in, that’s my reaction to the headline.
If by “pretty useless” he means the most awesome and cool device ever, then yeah, he’s right.
…Guess this means that KPN did not get the deal in Holland – which might mean that someone else did…
Good news: KPN sucks anyway, and I’ll go with whoever else sells it…
(maybe not in the line on day 1, but certainly on day 2)
DD from Belgium – but living in the Netherlands
Hmmm… that “bloodbath” is pretty slow-flowing. I’m sure I’ll have an iPhone someday, but only when they’re free with a 2-year contract.
At the rate things are going, my guess is we’ll be there pretty soon.
Why are so many people dogging Apple products lately?
It’s way over done……
What is that in Dutch? FUUD?
Ad SheepBuilder is a bean counter…
http://scholieren.nrc.nl/weekkrant/2001/48/2.shtml
Sheepblower.
Typical socialist guy, who apparently married the boss’s daughter. Double-dutch maroon. He’s been living below sea level for too long.
When the finger is taken out of the dike, iPhone will flow in to Holland.
F* him! Next…moving on…who is the second behind KPN’s E-Plus in the Nederlands?
I am a Dutchman and of course I very much enjoy my hacked iPhone. (now running version 1.1.3 ) I know lots of Dutch people already enjoying their iPhones. Mr. Scheepbouwer is pretty good in what he is doing but I can’t see him making the deal. Especially after these remarks. I guess t-mobile will get the deal as they are already Apple’s partner in Germany
Any prayer this mouthbreather had of selling the iPhone in the Netherlands just went out the window.
I’ll have to say that i’m sure that there are much more functional phones than the iphone in Germany… I would say 3G more popular, stereo bluetooth on there cellphone. A video camera, and faster internet access. The iphone is good but it’s lacking lots of good features. I mean honestly i love my iphone, but has anyone seen what the Nokia N95 can do. I mean fanboy or not of apple, you have to know that the iPhone does NOT do everything…
Much more interesting newz…Naval Battle for iPod has been released…looks pretty cool…happy mo and mo games are being released…been playing Pole Position in my spare moments…still waiting for Road Rash
STILL…MDN’s site loads dog slow, but no other Mac sites do.
Sheep Blower is just jealous.
Apparently Andy Rooney agrees with Scheepbouwer…
Maybe they’re both using it the same way.
Quality of the product aside, it has to be remembered that the iPhone is 1 model targetting the high(er) end of the market.
Perhaps its target markets are wider than other similar phones but it’s still purposely limited in its potential penetration. As such it’s never likely to single handedly cause the companies who don’t sell it to lose customers across the board. It may take customers from similar devices on the same network or get new customers from others but at the same time it’s not going to stop unhappy customers on the lower end from moving for its carrier to someone else. It’s not that black and white.
We now know the true identity of Old Mac Man
so this guy bows sheep… hmmmm
To a certain point, everything is useless.
Scheepbouwer has the sheer audacity to admit to fleecing the flock.
A couple of things to consider:
1. The iPhone is still in its first year. The iPod didn’t do fantastically well in year one.
2. The iPhone (and iPod Touch) will evolve significantly in the next few years. Flash iPods made a huge impact for Apple and as the unit prices go down the uptake for these units will skyrocket. I’ll buy the 32 gig iTouch when it drops to 399.
3. As more countries come on board, Apple’s profit margin will increase significantly and they will drop prices to push pressure on competitors.
4. The iPhone clearly has the potential to be a good all in one device.
These are still really early days and Apple have the products to be competitive for the next five years.
This article is no surprise. Just like the Balmer video and all the other quotes from CEO’s whose companies compete with Apple and iPhone. What would we EXPECT them to say, “Apple really beat our ass on this one”? Nobody believes them. They don’t believe themselves. Of course behind closed doors their words are very very different. Otherwise there wouldn’t be such a jump in the number of companies bragging about their new phones with touchscreens the last 6 months or so. This guy immediately has NO credibility, with his, “oh, the iPhone is useless, but we’d LOVE to sell it”. This is a joke.