Gadget Quake

The iPhone’s reach is expanding. Orange, France Telecom’s flagship brand, announced that it will sell Apple’s phone in additional countries in Europe, as well as the Middle East and Africa.

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Orange said it will sell the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and the African countries of Ivory Coast, Jordan, Cameroon, Botswana, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, Mauritius and R?union.

The deal expands the list of countries where Apple has agreed to operate on a nonexclusive basis. Of the countries announced in this deal, Orange will have exclusives only in Belgium and Romania.

Numerous Deals

Earlier this month, Vodafone announced it had signed a deal to provide the iPhone in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

Days ago, Swisscom announced it had won the right to sell the iPhone in Switzerland. “The iPhone will be available later this year,” a statement on the company’s Web site simply said. The fact that the firm won’t sell the phone until later in the year suggests that it will sell a yet-to-be-announced 3G version.

The Swiss newspaper Le Matin reported that the Swisscom deal is for a 3G iPhone that would offer two-way chats, mobile TV and GPS navigation. The plan also calls for Swisscom to offer “attractive” incentives and a high-end plan to include mobile video and other carrier-provided services, Le Matin said.

Sea Change for Apple

And on Monday, Singapore-based SingTel released a one-line statement announcing it signed an agreement with Apple to sell the phone in Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia.

All these nonexclusive deals mark a clear sea change for Apple, which until recently has insisted on exclusive deals with carriers. The iPhone launched with an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S., followed by similar deals with O2 in the United Kingdom, Orange in France and Deutsche Telekom in Germany.

So does this rash of nonexclusives mean the days are numbered for AT&T and the other carriers with exclusive deals in the West? No, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies. Apple is “locked into a long-term agreement with AT&T in the U.S. and others in Europe, but in some of these new countries they clearly have latitude to do things differently,” Bajarin said.

Redefining Mobile Internet

How will the iPhone be received in the developing world? “The iPhone is still an up-market smartphone, but it will appeal to certain individuals in any country and those who can afford it,” Bajarin said.

But what many consumers in the U.S. and other countries may not yet realize is that the iPhone is more than a phone. “The big thing will be its impact on all countries in the way it impacts how they view mobile computing,” Bajarin said. “In the past, mobile computing meant laptops. With the iPhone delivering PC-like functionality in the power of a handheld, it is set to redefine what the mobile Internet will be around the world.”

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco in June is where it is widely expected that CEO Steve Jobs will unveil a 3G iPhone. Luigi Licciardi, chief executive of Telecom Italia Mobile, apparently confirmed those rumors earlier this week when he told Electronics Weekly, “We will be selling an iPhone with 3G capability next month.”

Source

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