Orange to Sell iPhone in Europe, Middle East, and Africa

[MacRumors]

The flood of announcements regarding iPhone carriers continued today with a one-sentence press release from Orange announcing an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to a number of countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

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[tgildred]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

The flood of announcements regarding iPhone carriers continued today with a one-sentence press release from Orange announcing an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to a number of countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Yes, but what a sentence!

[Buschmaster]

Great! Keep them coming!

[stagi]

Sweet, they are going to be everywhere by the end of the year!

[zombitronic]

So we have:
01) USA
02) UK
03) Germany
04) Austria
05) France
06) Ireland
07) India
08) Argentina
09) Brazil
10) Chile
11) Dominican Republic
12) El Salvador
13) Guatemala
14) Honduras
15) Jamaica
16) Nicaragua
17) Paraguay
18) Peru
19) Puerto Rico
20) Uruguay
21) Colombia
22) Philippines
23) Jamaica
24) Australia
25) Ecuador
26) Canada
27) Singapore
28) Mexico
29) Italy
30) Czech Republic
31) Egypt
32) Greece
33) Italy
34) New Zealand
35) Portugal
36) Turkey
37) Belgium
38) Jordan
39) Poland
40) Romania
41) Slovakia
42) Switzerland
43) South Africa (not sure which specific countries)

Thank you, Wikipedia. Have I left anyone out?

Either way, I don't think Apple will have a problem hitting their 10 million mark by year's end.

[trickytrev]

Do you guys agree with me that this can be in fact the biggest hint that iPhone2 is NOT carrier locked?

2 out of 3 Swiss carriers have announced it within days. (Swisscom and Orange, - waiting for Sunrise/Tele2)

[FullGaz]

Funny they're not including Israel in that list. Most people here walk around with at least 2 phones, so there is a market in this small country. And I'm waiting to get my hands on one of these babies as well

[g-7]

Poland! At least!

But wait a second. What about activation? There's no iTunes Store in Poland, how are we going to activate those iPhones?
Or maybe they won't need activation...?

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Originally Posted by zombitronic

So we have:
01) USA
02) UK
03) Germany
04) Austria
05) France
06) Ireland
07) India
08) Argentina
09) Brazil
10) Chile
11) Dominican Republic
12) El Salvador
13) Guatemala
14) Honduras
15) Jamaica
16) Nicaragua
17) Paraguay
18) Peru
19) Puerto Rico
20) Uruguay
21) Colombia
22) Philippines
23) Jamaica
24) Australia
25) Ecuador
26) Canada
27) Singapore
28) Mexico
29) Italy
30) Czech Republic
31) Egypt
32) Greece
33) Italy
34) New Zealand
35) Portugal
36) Turkey
37) Belgium
38) Jordan
39) Poland
40) Romania
41) Slovakia
42) Switzerland
43) South Africa (not sure which specific countries)

Thank you, Wikipedia. Have I left anyone out?

Either way, I don't think Apple will have a problem hitting their 10 million mark by year's end.

I think it is South Africa the country not the region. If I would have to guess.

[Cromulent]

Originally Posted by zombitronic

43) South Africa (not sure which specific countries)

South Africa is a country .

[ArtOfWarfare]

Originally Posted by zombitronic

Thank you, Wikipedia. Have I left anyone out?

I recall hearing something about a China company reversing their previous decision of not selling the iPhone in China...

so... I think you left out China.

[Stig McNasty]

If Apple gave Orange the iPhone as well as O2 it'd bring some much needed competition to the UK, and better coverage. O2 sucks where I live.

[samab]

Originally Posted by trickytrev

Do you guys agree with me that this can be in fact the biggest hint that iPhone2 is NOT carrier locked?

2 out of 3 Swiss carriers have announced it within days. (Swisscom and Orange, - waiting for Sunrise/Tele2)

As long as there are n number of carriers and n-1 iphone carriers --- then you are going to expect sim-locking.

Even if there are equal number of carriers and iphone carriers --- you may still have sim-locking, if they compete on price subsidies.

[Tattoo]

Who knew they even had that technology!?

[swagi]

So...there's Orange breaking the T-mobile exclusivity in Austria.

Very interesting indeed. So I keep my fingers crossed, that o2 will be the second iPhone source in Germany.

[laxmax613]

Originally Posted by FullGaz

Funny they're not including Israel in that list. Most people here walk around with at least 2 phones, so there is a market in this small country. And I'm waiting to get my hands on one of these babies as well

beat me to the post. i would get one but i already have orange and cellcom has the edge network. i'd put money one orange seling it though.

[Lycanthrope]

In Belgium you are not allowed to lock phones to networks and you are not allowed to subsidize the phone with the contract.

Ergo that Mobistar (Orange brand here) may have them in their shops but there will be nothing to stop people off the street buying them unlocked for the same price.

[samab]

Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

In Belgium you are not allowed to lock phones to networks and you are not allowed to subsidize the phone with the contract.

Ergo that Mobistar (Orange brand here) may have them in their shops but there will be nothing to stop people off the street buying them unlocked for the same price.

There are 2 Belgium cases that have appealed up to the European Court of Justice on whether Belgium's anti-bundling law is against EU's consumer protection laws (the cases will be heard on June 17, 2008).

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/...ogy/iphone.php

Meanwhile, Belgium is thinking about repealing the anti-bundling law.

http://www.vanbaelbellis.com/files/B...08-100213A.pdf

Looks like Orange is betting that Beglium is going to kill their existing laws.

[iWizzard]

Where are the Scandinavian countries? I would think a market with over 100% mobile phone subscribers would be an interesting market.

Luckily there is always the option to buy it from USA (MUCH cheaper)

[winterspan]

Congrats to everyone in Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, and Poland! (and every other country mentioned too!)

Originally Posted by g-7

Poland! At least!

But wait a second. What about activation? There's no iTunes Store in Poland, how are we going to activate those iPhones?
Or maybe they won't need activation...?

In one of the press release articles about new iPhone countries, they said that the new country would also be getting an iTunes store at the same time as the iPhone in order to activate it. So I would guess "iTunes Store Poland" will be here soon. In addition to just activation, every country will need an iTunes store so that everyone can download firmware updates and software from the iPhone app store! Maybe they will just leave out the Music/Video part for certain countries

Originally Posted by Tattoo

Who knew they even had that technology!?

Well, the obvious place of course is South Africa, but people (ahem.. Americans) always forget that Egypt, Libya, and Morocco are also in AFRICA. All of Africa is not Lion and Buffalo Savannah. lol.
Other countries besides those four with UMTS (3G) networks include Namibia, Angola, Nigeria , Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Seychelles, and Mauritius. I wouldn't necessarily assume that many didn't have 3G networks running before the USA.

Also, if you think about it, cell phone towers are much easier and cheaper than putting down phone lines in developing countries.

Originally Posted by iWizzard

Where are the Scandinavian countries? I would think a market with over 100% mobile phone subscribers would be an interesting market.

Luckily there is always the option to buy it from USA (MUCH cheaper)

I was shocked to actually find there hasn't been any announcements! It's a NOKIA CONSPIRACY! I hope you guys get the iPhone too!

[megfilmworks]

Netherlands? They really want them over there.

[Yuppi]

Originally Posted by iWizzard

Where are the Scandinavian countries? I would think a market with over 100% mobile phone subscribers would be an interesting market.

Luckily there is always the option to buy it from USA (MUCH cheaper)

i will leave sweden if they don't announce it there soon!
I have seen quite a few people around here that have an iPhone. And it really bothered me that this guy could surf for a longer time on his iPhone (and have more fun) than me on my N95

But from the amount of announced countries I can only highly doubt that there is any exclusiveness is going on. I even doubt they are locked.

[Nick012]

Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

In Belgium you are not allowed to lock phones to networks and you are not allowed to subsidize the phone with the contract.

Ergo that Mobistar (Orange brand here) may have them in their shops but there will be nothing to stop people off the street buying them unlocked for the same price.

I guess we'll see who has the best plan suited to the iPhone. Thats what'll set the carriers apart. Still, nice to see that if I'm back in BE next year I can get myself an iPhone

[samab]

Originally Posted by Nick012

I guess we'll see who has the best plan suited to the iPhone. Thats what'll set the carriers apart. Still, nice to see that if I'm back in BE next year I can get myself an iPhone

Chances are by the time you visit Belgium next year, the European Court of Justice will rule that Belgium's anti-bundling law should be struck down because it's incompatible with EU directives. And Belgium is going to repeal the law.

[Mackan]

Originally Posted by Yuppi

i will leave sweden if they don't announce it there soon!
I have seen quite a few people around here that have an iPhone. And it really bothered me that this guy could surf for a longer time on his iPhone (and have more fun) than me on my N95

But from the amount of announced countries I can only highly doubt that there is any exclusiveness is going on. I even doubt they are locked.

Hasn't reached Scandinavia, and particulary Sweden, because we are not used to get ripped off with the kind of terms and contract that the iPhone is connected too. Only hardcore Mac fanboys would buy it, the rest would laugh in your face if you mention the conditions.

In every news item the iPhone has been connected to one or several carriers, I don't know why you think it is not exclusive, and not locked? If it truely were unlocked, we would just have one news: Apple releases unlocked iPhone for sale all over the world where they sell iPods. Apple still tries to reach as many exclusive deals as possible whereever they can.