[Macworld]

Post your comments for Apple to take iPhone nonexclusive in Australia and India here

[drimwit]

I think somewhere along the line Apple realised that people get very upset about being forced to use a particular operator. People really like choice. And also they're used to paying for their phone through their service subscription. The question now remains: how much will the phone cost, that is how much will the phone operators pay for it?
Its interesting to note that Telstra is now the only major operator not to sign on, and they also happen to be the only operator that has a EDGE network, which would provide the best user experience. For Optus and Vodafone speeds outside the large cities will max out at about 60-80Kbps.

[aryayush]

WOW! Both Airtel and Vodafone covered. Those two, between themselves, pretty much include all customers who'd be willing to buy an iPhone in India, so Apple might just have a hit on their hands.
The prices though have been rumoured to be around Rs. 28,000, which is way too high. Not many people are going to be willing to pay that much. It's better to buy it from the U.S.A. for Rs. 16,000 and unlock it yourself.

[stephenrea]

Cingular took a big risk with an unproven cell phone maker when they signed the deal with Apple. The 5-year contract was probably their way to trying to mitigate the risk.
Now that Apple has such an upper hand, Apple is probably regretting it.
On the other hand, it's very common for a phone to tied to a particular vendor. Verizon Voyager, AT&T Slider, etc. At least for a while, before it's available on other carriers.

[drimwit]

The other interesting issue will be the locks. The Australian market is pretty adverse to phone locking outside of low-end prepaid accounts. There might be a backlash if the operators were forced by Apple to lock the phone to the operator.
Apple may implement tougher hardware technology to lock the new version of the phone, using specialist chips. If the non-exclusive operators sell the phone at a high price heavy unlocking may remain a problem. If these operators sell unlocked phones generally at a reasonable price, its going to have an impact on the exclusive operators with people like AT&T seeing wholesale importing of unlocked non-US phones.
I would think that Apple is better served with a open market approach similar to their ipods. They surely could sell many more phone this way, albeit at a somewhat lower price. Their revenue and profits would be higher though.

[fribhey]

stephenrea said:

Cingular took a big risk with an unproven cell phone maker when they signed the deal with Apple. The 5-year contract was probably their way to trying to mitigate the risk.

there's been absolutely no comment by apple or at&t about the length of their contract. it was speculated that it was a 5 year contract but until there's actual proof that's all it is, speculation. people should stop talking about it as if it was fact.

[alansky]

My take on this development is that, in the beginning, Apple had no choice but to give mobile operators an exclusive deal in exchange for their support of an untested new product. But things are different now. The iPhone is a proven success and Apple should have no trouble attracting interested partners in any market they choose to enter.