We broke the news earlier this week that O2 was still claiming to sell the iPhone “exclusively” on Google search results, despite losing dibs on Apple’s phone way back in October. Now the network has reached out to us with an explanation, and a full apology. Read on for the statement.
We spotted that O2 was misleading potential customers by not removing meta data from its website declaring the iPhone was available “exclusively” on O2, meaning anyone arriving from the site through a Google query for “iphone” would have seen the claim still high up on the results page. Now though, O2 has fixed the error and a network spokesperson has issued this explanation to us:
“O2 was the exclusive provider of the Apple iPhone in the UK for two years from November 2007. Regrettably when we changed our site in November 2009 we omitted to change the meta data which has resulted in search engines showing this out of date information. We do still offer the iPhone of course, but not exclusively. We thank ElectricPig for pointing it out and apologise for the mistake. We’ve corrected it now, and search engines should reflect this within the next few weeks.”
O2 iPhone exclusivity ads: have you seen one lately?
We’ve checked and sure enough, O2 has banished any remaining references to exclusivity in its source code. However, it will take a few days to vanish from Google searches due to the frequency of search engine bots checking the site.
We’ve cleared this issue now, but don’t let any less tech-savvy friends be fooled if they see any other exclusive claims: you can buy the iPhone on O2, Orange, Vodafone and Tesco Mobile, and we’ve broken down the best value deals right here in our feature.
Out TBC | £TBC | O2
