Vodafone will sell Apple’s iPhone in ten countries including Italy from later this year, while Telecom Italia will also sell the phone in Italy, the companies said in separate announcements Tuesday. The announcements signal a break with Apple’s policy of striking exclusive national deals with carriers.
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 company’s networks there later this year, but it's unknown if they want to sell the phone already marketed, or they wait for the launch of 3G-capable iPhone2. Neither Vodafone nor Telecom Italia would provide information about their pricing plans for pricing, but as most of the countries enlisted above have good 3G coverage, the new iPhone has good chances to be also marketed by Vodafone. Representatives for the two companies would not say whether the iPhones they sell will be locked to their networks. Apple representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
There is information and pictures becoming available on a daily basis about the not yet announced model. The latest sighting has been on a Chinese site, the pictures are supposedly of the new generation phone, but nothing's sure up until the official announcement.
Will it be white?
Translated by Szaszati
