Apple’s iPhone Moves towards Non-Exclusivity

Apple is breaking away from its history of exclusive iPhone distribution agreements with operators. The signing of agreements with service providers in Italy, Austria, India and Australia as well in a handful of European countries are ample proof of that.

Last Monday SingTel had announced that it had struck a deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone in Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines.

SingTel’s announcement came in the wake of a previous agreement between Vodafone and Apple to sell the iPhone in 10 countries including Australia, India and Italy.

The deal between SingTel and Apple involves several different operators. SingTel Mobile will distribute the iPhone in Singapore, while in Australia the handset will be sold by Optus. Bharti Airtel and Globe Telecom will handle sales in India and the Philippines, respectively.

Optus is a SingTel subsidiary, while Bharti Airtel and Globe Telecom are affiliated companies that count SingTel as an investor.

This Friday, Orange announced that it will sell the iPhone in several countries including Austria, where Deutsche Telekom already has the exclusive deal with Apple to sell the iPhone. Orange will also market the iPhone in Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, and some African countries.

Vodafone and Telecom Italia will market the iPhone in Italy, while Vodafone will sell the phone along with France's Orange in Egypt and Portugal, and possibly some other countries. The multiple supplier deals indicate that Apple's insistence on exclusive marketing agreements is breaking down.

What will be the effect of this new attitude of Apple regarding its five-year exclusive contract with AT&T to sell the iPhone in the U.S. can’t be predicted. Also Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel both run on CDMA wireless infrastructure, not the GSM technology that AT&T and the iPhone use. So they aren't likely candidates to offer the iPhone. But one possible option is T-Mobile, which uses GSM. Its German parent, Deutsche Telekom, has been selling the iPhone in Europe.

The fact that the iPhone can be unlocked relatively easily and then used on any GSM network is already well documented. Probably this is the reason for Apple’s moving towards non exclusivity of the iPhone and to make it more easily available to the general public.

Also with newer and faster models of the iPhone expected to be unveiled on June 9, when Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference, the changed attitude of Apple might boost sales of the iPhone helping it scale new heights.