Report iPhones en route to Russia
Russians may soon get their chance to queue up to buy the Apple iPhone. Legally, that is.
When Apple announced the latest
iPhone, the 3G, in June, CEO Steve Jobs set a goal of getting the device into 70 countries “over the next several months.” But in the big map of the world on display during his keynote address at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Russia was a large and conspicuous void–as was its sizable neighbor, China.
Official sales of the iPhone are likely to start in October, with a deal having been reached between Apple and Mobile TeleSystems, Russia’s largest carrier, according to the Reuters news agency, citing market sources. A second, carrier has also signed a framework agreement, and a third deal is in the offing, Reuters reported.
The iPhone 3G.
Also at WWDC in June, Jobs said he expected Apple to sell 10 million phones this year.
(Credit:
Apple)
There are reportedly 600,000 unauthorized iPhones already in Russian hands.
The price to Russian consumers is expected to be 24,000 rubles, or about $990. That’s far higher than the price in the U.S., but much less, Reuters said, than the price of unauthorized iPhones already being scooped up in Russia.
A mobile telecommunications analyst told Reuters that MTS aims to sell 1 million iPhones within two years, and that total sales by the top three carriers over that two-year period are expected to hit 3.5 million units.
