Apple has struck more nonexclusive deals with mobile service carriers to sell its iPhone, a pair of companies said today, adding to the shift that began last week when Apple signed up two firms to market its smart phone in Italy.
On Monday, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) and Bharti Airtel Ltd. announced in a joint statement that they had reached agreement with Apple Inc. to sell the iPhone in Australia and India, respectively. Last week, U.K.-based Vodafone Group PLC said it had signed with Apple to sell the iPhone in both of those countries.
SingTel’s Optus subsidiary, which has an estimated 7 million subscribers, will handle the iPhone in Australia; Bharti Airtel currently has about 64 million mobile customers in India.
Last Tuesday, Vodafone and Telecom Italia — Italy’s telecommunications company — both said that they had signed deals with Apple to sell the iPhone in Italy, the first time that the U.S. company had made nonexclusive arrangements. Until then, Apple had partnered with a single mobile service provider in each market. In the U.S., for example, the only authorized network is AT&T, while in France, Germany and the U.K. it’s Orange, T-Mobile and O2, respectively.
Source: ComputerWorld