o2 to launch iPhone in the UK via Maxafi Limited?

At the SMS Text News Unlimited Drinks evening last week, speculation was rife about the UK operators who are gearing up to sell the Apple iPhone. Almost every operator — with the exception of 3UK — was linked to the device that evening.

I was rather interested to come across this Google Ad when I was searching for ‘iphone unlocked‘ in Google News:

It reads:

Phone – Exclusive to O2
Coming to the UK soon
More details and free notifications
www.iPhonefromO2.com

Gosh, I thought, it’s out there! The news is out?

I clicked on to the www.iPhonefromO2.com:

First glance and the site appeared genuine. If anything, the o2 online shop style looked to have had a bit of an upgrade. There’s a Q&A, a Tariffs page (“coming soon”) and Tech Specs. There are then links to the o2 site and the UK Apple Store.

“Be at the front of the queue,” exclaimed the text, “Enter your email address,” it continued. The concept being you’ll be notified when the iPhone is available.

Curiously I clicked on to the Privacy Policy.

This website is published by Maxafi Limited. Contact details can be found here.

Curious! I was surprised to see the o2 branding everywhere yet find Maxafi as the site publisher. Maybe they’re an advertising agency used by o2, I thought.

I clicked on to www.maxafi.com to find out that:

Maxafi is a fast-growing online media network serving more than 2.5 million unique visitors every month.

No mention of o2.

I went back to the iPhonefromo2 Privacy Policy page and then recognised some faint gray text at the bottom:

This website is not authorised or affiliated with Apple Inc or Telefonica o2. All trademarks are acknowledged.

Ah hah.

One would imagine o2 isn’t going to be that impressed at finding such a site using their branding so extensively.

I also imagine that the site is probably attracting a good amount of traffic and collecting email addresses — so when the device becomes available, presumably on o2, they can shoot each email an update and point them to a site to sign-up for it — that earns commission.

A perfectly fine service — but I don’t think it’s cool to use the o2 branding in that way.