Apple agrees to non-exclusive iPhone sales in more countries
iPhone buzz is on a climb. After announcing sale of iPhone in countries like Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, Apple is now breaking away from the exclusive deals signed for sale of iPhones (like AT&T in USA).
Apple has signed deals with Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, and some African countries.
The notable part is that telecom companies have existing agreements for exclusive sale of iPhone. For example, Orange has now signed a deal to sell iPhones in Austria, where iPhone was sold exclusively by Deutsche Telekom. In Italy, Telekom Italia and Vodafone will sell iPhone. Vodafone has also agreed to sell iPhone in Egypt and Portugal (where Orange sells iPhone).
This can only be good news for iPhone fans who are eager to buy iPhones but held back because of having to switch to a new network. The launch of iPhone in these countries may also coincide with the launch of iPhone 2.0, which promises updated interface and 3G compatibility (which translates to superior data transfer speeds). iPhone 2.0 is expected to be announced on June 9, when Apple holds WDC.
Pallab said on June 5th, 2008
I know that in India Airtel and Vodafone are going to be providing iPhone by the end of this year.