Yesterday Vodafone released the news they’d be providing the iPhone to Australia and 9 other countries.
“Vodafone today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets around the globe. 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.”
Given Vodafone aren’t making a song and dance about having exclusivity, it ads credibility to reports that the phone will be unlocked with Optus and others also likely to carry the device.
Assuming this the phone is unlocked, consumers will need to be savy and investigate all options to get the best deal. Data plans is an area that is likely to vary greatly between carriers.
Still no firm release date, just the standard “Later this year” similar to that of the Roger’s iPhone comes to Canada announcement. At the opening keynote of WWDC on June 9th we’re likely to see the iPhone 2.0 announced, and a release in existing iPhone markets within 2 weeks after the event. New markets will likely see rollouts of the following months leading up to Christmas.
Vodafone are letting you register your interest.
More @ Vodafone.com.au