Apple CEO Steve Jobs doesn't take kindly to criticism - least of all when it's about its wonderchild, the iPhone. Strange then that a Dutch telecoms CEO has taken to slagging off the device, while also trying to persuade Jobs to give him the exclusive rights to sell it.
KPN CEO Ad Scheepbouwer told the FT yesterday:
"I had one [an iPhone] and I thought it was a pretty useless phone, to be quite honest. The battery ran out in no time. I didn't like the touch screen."
Scheepbouwer also said the iPhone also has a minimal impact on KPN's business in Germany, where Apple's partner T-Mobile has sold 70,000 units since its launch late last year. 70,000 sales "was not a particularly impressive number," Scheepbouwer said.
Hates iPhone, would love to sell it
However Scheepbouwer then tries to sweeten a possible deal by saying:
"We'd 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." He has apparently also been wining and dining Jobs in a bid to seal the deal.
You have to ask yourself what kind of man would willingly sell 'pretty useless' products to his customers and then admit to doing so. Who does he think he is? Gerald Ratner?
[via Silicon Alley Insider / The Inquirer]