Filed under: iPhone
Vodafone to sell iPhone in 10 countries
Today Vodafone announced that it is partnering with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten countries:- Australia
- the Czech Republic
- Egypt
- Greece
- Italy
- India
- Portugal
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- Turkey
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.


![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)


Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
James Grinter said 9:18AM on 5-06-2008
The same Vodafone run by CEO Arun Sarin, who said the iPhone handset is "a pretty poor experience"? (source: Financial Times - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/059a6b9a-9640-11dc-b7ec-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1)
Reply
mike said 9:39AM on 5-06-2008
So given that his criticism was based on the phone's reliance on 2.5G tech, wouldn't this preclude a 3G iPhone? Seems to be a given at this point, but nonetheless.
gbougiakas said 9:46AM on 5-06-2008
Well this one is the CEO of Vodafone UK. And I firmly believe that the new iPhone 3G is the one that will get released in these countries as no EDGE network exists in most of them.
Antonio Moro said 9:42AM on 5-06-2008
In Italy the iPhone will be sold also by Telecom Italia (announced officially today) so no exlusivity, at least in Italy.
Reply
Think Adrian said 9:45AM on 5-06-2008
Many of them very strange countries to release in, but good for them!
Can't imagine many people in the Czech Republic or India who can afford a $400 phone.
We in Scandinavia are rich ;)
I also bet they will release the 2,5G iPhone in these countries, to continue the current story. The 3G iPhone is a different story.
Reply
André said 10:01AM on 5-06-2008
Yeah, hopefully Scandinavia will see the iPhone soon :)
I will surely get it.
Think Adrian said 10:09AM on 5-06-2008
Well, you can get it still ;) I'm sure to upgrade to the 3G version if it's not notably thicker
Nopix said 10:14AM on 5-06-2008
You are not right Adrian, I am from Slovak Republic and 400 USD cell phone is for me in category "cheaper phones". You can see many people in Bratislava or Prague walking with iPhones and much more expensive phones (Nokia 8800 Sirocco (around 24000Sk=1150USD), Vertu (80000-200000SK = 3800-9500USD), Nokia N95 (around 15000Sk = 717USD) etc.)
Jonathan said 10:39AM on 5-06-2008
Wow. What a profoundly uneducated comment.
Flights to Prague are cheap these days - I suggest you visit the place and have a look around.
As for India, try using one or two of those braincells and you might understand why it is anything but a "strange country" to release the iPhone.
US said 1:34PM on 5-06-2008
Hi!
I agree with Jonathan's comments about Adrian.
As someone else said...a $400 iPhone is cheaper than most of the other cellphones. India right now has the CHEAPEST mobile rates in the world and they're still going down!
Adrian, I think you need to step out of your house or maybe read a little more about current affairs!
Tomasz said 5:36PM on 5-06-2008
Well, people in Czech will have no problem with affording an iPhone. I was there a couple of weeks ago and I already saw many of them with iPhones in their hands :-)
kleinias said 5:38PM on 5-06-2008
When I was in India a little while ago (Bombay/Mumbai), I saw billboards for companies like Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Tag Heuer. That might be an indication that India's large middle class (as large as the total U.S. Population) might be able to afford an iPhone or two. In fact, there are probably more potential iPhone purchasers in India than there are people in Scandinavia.
Even though the dawn of the Internet age is supposed to have made us much more savvy about the world around us, I sometimes wonder if this is really true. With so much information swirling around us, I don't know if we are able to pick out the trends that are of the most importance.
JFK said 6:49PM on 5-06-2008
Haha Adrian, Europeans like to call Americans "stupid because they know nothing about about other countries" but you just proved that many Europeans are ingnorans too. I see nothing "strange" on these countries. Especially your comment about Czech Republic is funny. In Czech republic is quite typical to have 300-500$ phone, people there like to buy expensive cell phones and they buy them quite often. There are actually more cell phones used than citizens, lot of people use several units (small phone/smart phone/bussines phone/..)
daba said 1:17AM on 5-07-2008
Thank you sooooo much for calling us strange? at least everyone knows where we are on a map!
Peter Koritschan said 10:01AM on 5-06-2008
gbougiakas,
I have been using my iPhone since September last year here in the Czech Republic and travelling around the world... here Vodafone CZ actually has a rather impressive EDGE network, which even beats some of the networks in Switzerland etc... that I have seen (the E from the Edge logo disappears in those areas).
Think Adrian, you should update your economic stats for these countries. Can't speak for India, but in the Czech Republic in the metropolitan areas like Prague people can well afford 400$, especially given the current strong crown, which went from 30 CZK/USD to 15 CZK/USD in about 2 years... many Czechs actually fly to the U.S. to buy Apple products, or buy unofficial unlocked phones here in Prague at a massive premium for 13'900 CZK which rougly equals USD 920!!!!!
I personally own 2 iPhones, both my old 8GB for business and a new 16 GB version...
P.S. walk around in Prague (CZ) or even Bratislava (Slovak Republic), and you'll see MANY iPhones around, considering they are not officiallly sold here yet....
Reply
Efthymis said 10:41AM on 5-06-2008
Adrian you are so totally wrong that it hurts...
Here in Greece the majority of population gets phones that cost 600 Euros and upwards. Do your math then come back to us.
The whole problem from the start was America's old cellular network. Europe is far ahead of you in this particullar matter. EDGE is the best your providers can do? On 2008? Wake up guys! Two words: 3G. Enough said.
I already have an iPhone but I regret selling my Sony Ericsson T650i. The only positive about the iPhone right now is the Touch Interface. Nothing more than that. Other handhelds do their job better and do even more things than the iPhone.
I'm sorry for this long post, but it's high time some things were said; you Americans must realize there may be others doing things better than you.
Reply
kleinias said 5:58PM on 5-06-2008
Why would you think that Adrian is necessarily an American? In his first post in this thread he said: "We in Scandinavia are rich."
That seems to be to be an indication that he may be Scandinavian. Perhaps instead of doing the typical "You Americans!" rant, you should slow down and think about what you are really responding to.
The US has had a large 3g network for some years now (Sprint comes to mind), that's why there was a bit of an outcry when the iPhone was released on at&t without 3G.
Bender said 11:18AM on 5-06-2008
Awaiting Benelux - Netherlands.
Tried in France and Germany but too much red tape!
Phone company tie up is a real pain, hope they are making lot's cos they're losing plenty through non-sales!
Reply
iBSOD for iPhone said 12:39PM on 5-06-2008
SOUTH AFRICA!?!?!? OH MY G*D!
I've been waiting for this day... there was reports that they wouldn't launch it here... well, that I assume was the first generation. OH MY G*D!!!
So I'm sitting here with my US iPhone. oh well :) got to sell it before it is launched... and it's probably gonna be expensive here.
Reply
Marian said 2:49PM on 5-06-2008
I, too, am from Slovakia and have an unlocked iPhone. Love it to bits and hope they begin to be sold here officially before long as well (We're not worse than the Czechs, are we?)
Reply