With both Australia and Canada looking forward to the upcoming arrival of the iconic iPhone handset, trendsetting manufacturer Apple Inc. has announced the imminent increase of the device’s European coverage, starting with Italy.
Apple confirms that the iPhone is coming to Italy. Image: Apple/Stevie.
Notably breaking the usually strict business model that accompanies the iPhone, namely a single exclusive carrier in each market region, Apple’s touch-screen smartphone will be carried in Italy by Telecom Italia SPA and also Vodafone Group PLC.
Expected to officially launch in Italy before the close of the year, European telecommunications giant Vodafone has also said that it intends to introduce the iPhone into several other countries including the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.
Vodafone has not yet commented as to whether its regional deals with Apple will involve it being the exclusive iPhone provider for those listed countries.
It is entirely possible that Apple’s decision to allow multiple carriers to offer the iPhone in a single region is a move designed to increase European sales growth for the innovative multimedia smartphone, which has failed to re-create the same intense retail performance initially seen after the June 2007 launch in the US.
In related news, a newspaper report from Austria has today claimed that T-Mobile Austria is touting itself as one of the first countries set to receive the eagerly-anticipated 3G iPhone, the second-generation model that will deliver new features and dramatically improved data speeds.
According to the report appearing in Der Standard, the 3G iPhone is just around the corner and, beyond the advantages of 3G superiority, will bring “more flexible” pricing subscriptions with it.
Industry watchers generally believe that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will officially announce the new 3G iPhone at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, which is due to take place in early June.
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