IPhone Hits UK Grocery Shelves At Tesco Chain

Tesco grocery shelf (credit: scorpions and centaurs/flickr)

When you go to the grocery store, pick me up a loaf of bread, some milk and an iPhone. That could soon be the refrain of UK shoppers as a deal between Apple and Tesco was announced Wednesday. The arrangement would put the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in around 100 Tesco Phone Shops throughout the UK.

The agreement with Tesco Mobile, a virtual network operator, and carrier O2 would provide the Apple handsets as pay-as-you-go phones.

The pact between Apple and Tesco, the world’s fourth-largest retailer, could be Cupertino’s first step to wider European iPhone distribution. In 2008, Apple agreed to sell its handset in the U.S.-based Walmart chain, the world’s largest retailer. Previously, the iPhone was distributed in electronics stores, like Best Buy. Apple may also be preparing to sell Macs through Walmart as the retail giant creates Apple-specific sections in some of its stores.

In another similarity, 02 – which previously had exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in the UK – must now compete with rivals Vodafone and Orange, also offering the popular smartphone. In the U.S., AT&T – which held an exclusive arrangement with Apple since the iPhone’s introduction – reportedly will lose that arrangement in July 2010, when Verizon and other U.S.-based carriers might also offer the phone.

[Via AppleInsider, Engadget and BBC]

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