Dec 02
Major deal between Belgacom and Apple Belgium
2005 at 11.04 am posted by Veerle
Every so called “Teleboetiek” from Belgacom (big telecom operator) is going to sell iPods in the future. These shops are also going to play an active part in the selling of songs through the iTunes Music Store. Belgacom has about 100 of these stores spread over Belgium.
This news was confirmed by countrymanager Bernard Voglaire from Apple Belgium to the Dutch MacFan. Apparently this is only a small part of a much bigger deal between Apple Belgium and Belgacom. More details should become available later this month.
I have to think very hard to remember something of this magnitude in Apple Belgium’s history. If Apple and Belgacom play their cards right this deal could prove very lucrative. It’s another sign that Apple is doing very well and that stock is at an all time high. I own some stock that I bought at $45 and maybe I should start thinking about selling because it’s now at $71,50 ;-) Good times!
7served
1
iPods in the teleboetiek..? That’s so odd! Skynet (Belgacom’s daughter company) has it’s own music store: the Skynet Music Club (which sucks terribly). Are they going to give that up then (finally?). Hmm.
btw: It’s kind of funny btw that this blog post has 0 comments and 119 views :)
2
Interesting to see the difference in perspective. The local Canadian big telco, Telus, is now selling iPods as well (at least online, I’m not sure if they’re in stores yet.) And my reaction was quite a bit different; I saw it as nothing more than an opportunistic move, and them capitalizing on a popular trend.
It sure says a lot about what we think of our respective telecom providers, eh? :)
3
@Roel: same observations came to my mind:
1) Belgacom having their own music store (which I agree, is not in the same league as the iTMS): what will their story be with regards to that ? Also, I’ve never been friends with Belgacom (but that’s a personal thing) so I’d have to agree with Dave here: an opportunistic move by Belgacom. But still, it should be good for Apple to get some more exposure;
2) by now it’s 153 views and only 2 comments: it’s still quite strange; normally when Belgacom is involved you would expect plenty more reactions?
4
@Roel and Raven: As I said in the article this part is only a small piece of something larger that will be revealed later this month.The comment number is so high because the comment uri is also the feed for the article. So everytime somebody clicks from their aggregator it is counted as one.
5
@Veerle: Uh, yes, of course ;) :$
6
great site
7
Here in Switzerland, iPods are sold for quite a long time (maybe 2 years) at La Poste (swiss post) and at Swisscom (swiss main telecom operator) shops. Sometimes Switzerland is in advance ;-)