Vodafone gets deal to distribute Iphone in 10 countries

7 May 2008 | 10:00 BST

By Sylvie Barak

Eye, eye

VODAFONE MAY HAVE LOST out to Telefonica's O2 when it came to nabbing an Iphone distribution deal in the UK, but the British based mobile phone group has bounced back, signing a deal allowing it to sell the Iphone in 10 different countries.

In September last year, O2 signed a deal with Apple allowing it to sell the Iphone to the eager British public, leaving Vodafone with something of a bad taste in its mouth. O2 rubbed Vodafone’s face in it even more by declaring that the popular all-singing, all dancing phone was its best seller, pulling in record numbers of punters into O2 outlets around the country.

But now Vodafone seem to be fighting back. A succinct statement by the company declared that "later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network" .

The Iphone is a big money spinner for mobile companies as it pulls in revenues from phone internet use, as call costs steadily decrease.

L’Inq
Reuters

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