Orange to bring the iPhone in 7 European countries

Thomas Husson | May 16, 2008, 02:58 AM

Orange just announced a new agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Orange customers in 7 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland) but also in Egypt, Jordan, and Orange's African markets later this year.

Just 2-3 observations in line with my previous comments on Vodafone's recent announcement or with Singtel's announcement (the operator is to sell the iPhone in 4 Asian countries: Singapore, Philippines, Australia and India).

- No details are given in the PR but it is now clear that Apple is now embracing a more flexible approach with agreements that are not necessarily exclusive (TIM and Vodafone distribute the iPhone in Italy; T-Mobile and Orange in Austria, Singtel and Vodafone in India...). The CFO of France Telecom however recently confirmed that Orange's France exclusive agreement will still last another 2 years and an half.

- Spain is the only major European country missing. Another confirmation that a deal with Telefonica is likely to be announced

On a related topic and from an advertising perspective, here are some interesting stats from AdMob monthly stats. No doubt the sur-representation in the "other" category for iPhone's worldwide traffic was a good indication of the grey market in countries where the iPhone had not been launched officially.

Now that the geographical expansion is being completed, let's wait for innovation. See my colleague Ian Fogg's take here.