Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more iPhone news, Vodafone have made a surprise announcement that they are getting the iPhone too! It was less then 24 hours ago that I wrote about Orange receiving the rights to sell the iPhone in the UK and now we can reveal that Vodafone have done a deal with Apple as well. This means that from early 2010 there will be 3 major networks providing the iPhone in the UK.
This can only be good for competition and should force the monthly prices down as well as the upfront costs of buying an iPhone. As we reported yesterday O2’s exclusive rights on the iPhone end soon and Orange were the first to announce that they had done a deal with Apple. Two networks was good for competition, but three will be excellent.
Like Orange, Vodafone is no stranger to selling iPhones in Europe and sells them in Italy, Greece, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Also worldwide Vodafone has iPhone rights in Australia, Egypt, India, New Zealand and South Africa.
My Italian is as bad as my French (see yesterdays Orange post) but a look at Vodafone’s Italian site tells me that the monthly subscription for any iPhone model is €34 which is about £31, this is cheaper than O2’s current offering and cheaper than the iPhone from Orange France. Also interesting is that Vodafone Italy have an offer which ran during September which gave customers the chance to own an iPhone for just €199 but with a monthly subscription of just €9. Such an offer in the UK would be quite revolutionary.
Vodafone has a website where you can register your interest here.
I would be interested to hear you comments below. Which network would you choose to get your iPhone?
One thought on “Orange Not The Only Network Getting the iPhone; Vodafone To Start Selling iPhones in Early 2010”
Orange for sure….Orange Wednesdays, best 3g coverage according to Ofcom and by the sounds of it it’s coming this year. Can’t wait.