KPN CEO confirms Apple iPhone bit player status

It’s quite fascinating watching a possible global powerhouse move to a single digit bit-player across the year. Not long ago I was getting mails from mobile operators telling me just how much they were, frankly (and I quote), ‘shitting themselves’ about the Apple iPhone launch. How the market has changed.

Now that we’re clear that Apple only ever intends being a bit player after the supremely underwhelming launches in various international territories, much of the mobile marketplace appears to be breathing a sigh of relief.

One insider at an international carrier told me last night on IM:

We can relax now… Apple helped bring some momentum into the market. We need to up our game with [for example] data plans, but it’s steady as she goes now… The iPhone panic is over.

The next big problem (or opportunity) for the carriers? Google. But it’s a while away, at least.

Apple’s 10 million-units-in-18-months target is a reasonable one. I, like most of the mobile operators, thought the iPhone would be snapped up by the iPod crowd. It would have been, if it was priced right — but of course, we weren’t thinking about Apple’s exclusive pricing strategy.

Here’s a quote I picked up from StrategyEye about the KPN CEO doing a virtual shrug over the iPhone.

KPN CEO, Ad Scheepbouwer, is keen to sell the iPhone in the Netherlands, despite reportedly claiming that the smartphone is “pretty useless.” Talking to the Financial Times, Scheepbouwer says he used to have an iPhone, but “the battery ran out in no time” and he “didn’t like the touch screen.” He also says that the iPhone’s launch in Germany on Nov 9 had not had any effect on KPN’s Germany unit, E-Plus. However, the CEO admits he would “be more than happy to sell it. We have half the market in the Netherlands and we hope we will be the party of choice.”

I have finally reoriented my view on the iPhone now…