Orange Signs Deal to Sell iPhones

Associated PressMay 16, 2008 12:58 p.m.

PARIS -- French wireless operator Orange said Friday it has signed a deal with Apple Inc. to sell the iPhone in the Middle East, Africa and several European countries.
France Telecom's Orange said in a one-sentence statement that it will sell the handset in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and African markets later this year.
It didn't offer more details about the arrangement, including whether it would be the exclusive iPhone provider in some of the targeted countries.
Apple has so far struck exclusive deals for the iPhone with AT&T Inc. in the U.S., O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France.
Apple plans further expansion later this year through the partnership with Mexico City-based America Movil SAB. The top mobile-phone operator in Latin America said earlier this month it plans to bring the iPhone to all of its Latin American operations.
Apple has also signed deals with Rogers Communications Inc. to sell the device in Canada; Milan-based Telecom Italia SpA to sell the iPhone in Italy; and Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest mobile company by sales, to sell it in a total of 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey.
Since the combination iPod-cellphone-Internet device went on sale last June in the U.S., Apple has sold 5.4 million world-wide, based on data as of the end of Apple's fiscal second quarter, which ended in March.
Many consumers in countries where Apple has not struck iPhone deals with mobile operators are using them already. They are using "unlocked" iPhones that have been modified to work over any cellular network, a sign of the growing world-wide demand for the phones that has also irked Apple, which has disabled some unlocked phones through software updates.