Two Italian carriers have announced today that they will be distributing the 3G Apple iPhone later this year, meaning that Apple is apparently abandoning its model of carrier exclusivity for the phone.
Both Vodafone and Telecom Italia made announcements claiming they will be offering the phone to its customers later this year.
“Telecom Italia announces today that it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Italy within the year,” the carrier said in a small statement.
The announcement should be welcoming to European citizens who have so far steered clear of the iPhone due to lack of 3G compatibility, steep pricing, and limited carrier options. In the US however, the exclusivity contract the company struck with AT&T seems to working fine as sales are high.
Recent reports have cited the high volume of European customers unlocking the phones themselves to use on GSM based carriers of their choosing as one of the other reasons for Apple’s latest decision.
Result for: telecom italia
America Movil SAB has announced that it has inked a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to 12 countries in Latin America.
The media company said it would be bringing the phone to all of its Latin American operations but would not go into more detail about the arrangement, not even explaining if it was the exclusive carrier in the nations.
Apple says it plans to bring further expansion during the Q4 2008 by partnering with America Movil which has 160 million subscribers in 16 countries including Mexico and Brazil.
Over the last few weeks Apple has helped expand its iPhone worldwide signing deals with Rogers in Canada, Telecom Italia SpA in Italy; and Vodafone for 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey.
Apple says it has sold 5.5 million of the devices worldwide and has a year end goal of 10 million.
“We’re excited to be working with America Movil to bring the iPhone to Latin America later this year, and we can’t wait to get this revolutionary phone in the hands of even more people around the world,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris.
Result for: telecom italia
SingTel has announced that is has inked a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines meaning that at least in two of those countries, the carrier will have to compete for iPhone sales.
Last week Vodafone made a similar announcement stating that it had signed an agreement to distribute the phone in 10 countries, including Australia, India and Italy. Later that day, Telecom Italia announced it was also selling the phone in Italy meaning Apple was moving away from its history of signing only exclusive deals with carriers.
It seems low sales in Europe and Asia have gotten Apple to rethink its model somewhat.
Although there was no word on when the carrier will begin selling the phone, they did say “SingTel Mobile will distribute the iPhone in Singapore, while the handset will be sold by Optus in Australia. Bharti Airtel and Globe Telecom will handle sales in India and the Philippines, respectively.”
We will let you know when there is more insight into the availability of the phone.
