The Apple iPhone will be sold exclusively by Vodafone in 10 countries worldwide as the international mobile firm announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to exclusively distribute the handset in these markets later this year.
Apple iPhone consumers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will have to sign up for a Vodafone contract in order to get their hands on the phone.
This is Vodafone’s first iPhone deal with Apple and the largest operator/manufacturer tie-in to date, with other deals having spanned one country at a time.
Vodafone previously missed out on exclusively carrying the iPhone in both Ireland and the UK when O2 landed the contract, and also missed out on the opportunity to sell the handset in both Germany and France when T-Mobile and Orange respectively pipped it to the post.
This news for the iPhone in Australia may put to rest rumours that the Apple smart phone was not going to be tied to any manufacturer but rather sold from Apple resellers operating down under.
This news comes shortly after it was announced that the iPhone would finally go on sale in Canada later this year through Rogers Communications, the only GSM carrier in the country.
By Marie Boran
