AppleInsider Staff"Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network," the carrier said in a statement without providing further detail.
Vodafone was at one time believed to be the frontrunner to secure an exclusive contract to sell the current version of the iPhone in the UK, but inevitably lost out to Telefonica's O2 back in September.
Upon last check, the Newbury, England-based firm had 252 million proportionate customers in 25 markets across 5 continents, making it the second largest wireless carrier worldwide in terms of subscribers, trailing only China Mobile.
Vodafone joins Rogers of Canada as the second carrier in as many weeks to announce a deal to usher the iconic touch-screen handset into new markets, presumably alongside the arrival of a 3G model that will operate on the carriers faster GSM-based networks.
Apple had previously stated that it planned to scale the iPhone to additional European countries and parts of Asia during the 2008 calendar year.
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44 Comments
Waiting to hear news about which Japanese carrier will get it, Docomo or SoftBank.
Please make it soon...
something of an about-turn for vodafone. pity they didnt get it in the uk. i switched from them to o2 and havent been very impressed with o2s coverage in comparison
And thus endeth the revenue sharing Apple was so insistent on?
Just wondering...
And thus endeth the revenue sharing Apple was so insistent on?
Just wondering...
Wonder no more my friend. Funny how selling iPhones is more important now in Europe and the ME that it was inititally.
Smart move on their part.
I wonder if Apple will abandon exclusive carrier agreements when the 3G iPhone is launched in the UK.I imagine that Vodafone is itching to claw back the customers it has lost to 02.