Vodafone iPhone deal hinges partly on subsidies: report

A passer-by is reflected in a replica display of Apple's iPhone at the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York, June 25, 2007. Vodafone is in talks with Apple to launch the U.S. firm's iPhone combined music player and telephone in Europe, and talks partly hinge on volume guarantees and subsidies, a Dutch magazine reported.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Vodafone is in talks with Apple to launch the U.S. firm's iPhone combined music player and telephone in Europe, and talks partly hinge on volume guarantees and subsidies, a Dutch magazine reported.

Apple demanded a guaranteed sales volume for the iPhone, which the British mobile operator did not want to give, Dutch magazine Bright said on its web site late on Tuesday.

The magazine said Vodafone was pushing for more scope to subsidize the phone and did not want Apple to have control of the sale price. Vodafone declined comment on the report.

Vodafone has long been tipped by analysts as an obvious partner for Apple to bring the iPhone to Europe. Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE has also been mentioned as a possible contender.

Bright said France Telecom's Orange had also been in the running to bring the iPhone to Europe, but that Apple had a preference for Vodafone.

The iPhone goes on sale in the United States on June 29, with AT&T as the exclusive mobile operator.