Yesterday America Movil, the largest cell phone operator in Latin America, said it sell the iPhone across its Latin American operations starting later this year. Earlier this week Vodafone announced that it planned to sell the communications device in 10 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. In a separate statement Tuesday, Telecom Italia, whose TIM Telecom Italia Mobile wireless network is the Italian market leader, said it would also sell the iPhone in Italy later this year.
France Telecom's Orange is purportedly "in discussions" with Apple to sell the iPhone outside France, where it has distributed it since November. Apple is purportedly in negotiations with mobile operators NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Corp about selling the iPhone in Japan. In April, Rogers Wireless said it would begin carrying the Apple handset sometime later this year in Canada. Soon thereafter, Vodafone announced plans to bring the device to Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.
Then there are the countries where the iPhone is a hit without even being officially on sale. According to the [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/25/AR2008042503333.html?nav=rss_business]Washington Post[/url], there are approximately 500,000 iPhone users in Russia -- a country where the Apple communications device isn't even officially for sale, according to Eldar Murtazin, head of analysis at Mobile Research Group in Moscow, citing data obtained from Russia's cellphone operators.
The [url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23662394-662,00.html]Herald Sun[/url] says the iPhone is expected to be "extremely popular" with Australians when it's released here later this year. However, the newspaper notes that "thousands of iPhones are operating in Australia already, having been bought online or overseas, and in some cases hacked, for use on Australian phone networks." And in Israel, an unlocked iPhone is "pricey" but "popular," according to [url=http://us.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/05/07/iphone.israel/index.html]CNN[/url].
I want the iPhone to do well, but the Mac is still my favorite Apple product (probably because I use it for hours at a time). And big iPhone sales will probably have the same "halo effect" to boost Mac sales the iPod has. In fact,Macs are becoming the personal computer of choice for workers infatuated with the iPod and iPhone, according to [url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24429150/]BusinessWeek[/url].
With all this in mind, I think Apple will sell AT LEAST 12 million iPhones this calendar year. And it will be interesting to see how that spurs Mac sales.
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