Vodafone to Sell iPhones in Ireland and UK

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/29/both.regions.gaining.multiple.iphone.carriers/' target='_blank'>http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09...phone.carriers/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Vodafone has announced plans to sell the iPhone in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. As sales will only begin in early 2010, few details are available, though via the web interested buyers can </em><a href="http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/catalog/comingSoonRegistration.jsp?skuId=sku1780023" target="_blank"><em>sign up for more information</em></a><em> as it becomes available."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1254249468.usr105634.jpg" /></p><p>This after Orange <a href="http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/09/28/orange.uk.to.carry.iphones.in.2009/" target="_blank">announced</a> it was also going to be selling the iPhone after O2's exclusivity contract apparently ended, bringing the total retailers for your UK iPhone needs to three. Well, I wonder what is going to happen in 2010 with AT&T when their exclusivity clause runs out with Apple? I think the writing is on the wall, based on what is happening in the UK. Granted, they have a bit of a different legal view in terms of cell carriers, but AT&T isn't the only game in town for Apple. What are your thoughts?Â*</p>

[Dyvim]

UK (and most of the rest of the world for that matter) is a different case because the same Apple hardware can run on all 3 of those carriers. The current iPhone could sort of run on T-Mobile but would be without 3G, and it won't run at all on Verizon or Sprint. So it's not just a matter of the US exclusivity deal ending- either Apple must release new hardware specific to those carriers' networks or those carriers need to adopt AT&T's 3G GSM network standards.

But yeah, when (if) the AT&T exclusivity deal ends in the U.S. and Apple releases new hardware compatible with other U.S. carriers' networks, then I anticipate a lot of defection as customers choose the network which serves their needs best rather than being forced to the one network that has the iPhone hardware they desire. Me? I'm pretty happy with AT&T, but would love to offload some of the data network congestion to Verizon.;)

I predict the AT&T exclusivity deal won't end until Apple is ready to release an LTE version of the iPhone and AT&T and Verizon both have LTE networks up and running (in at least 1 city each). That way Apple can have just 1 device for both carriers, which seems to be how they prefer to operate.