iPhone: Vodafone could sign deal with Apple

Apple is finalising a deal with Vodafone to bring the iPhone to Europe, according to the latest iPhone rumours.
Vodafone has once again emerged as a frontrunner to sign an exclusive deal with Apple for the European launch of the iPhone, although it's unclear yet which territories the proposed deal would cover.
The latest reports suggest Apple is on the verge of agreeing a deal with Vodafone which could be announced within the next couple of weeks. However, when asked about the impending deal by Tech.co.uk, a Vodafone spokesperson declined to comment.
Apple is addressing some issues with the iPhone requested by Vodafone and other potential European mobile operator partners, sources quoted by Unstrung suggest. These include getting the iPhone's YouTube application to work more like the internet version, with multiple word searches and ensuring that the iPhone's calendar application syncs more reliably with Outlook and Exchange.
3G capability
Added support for Cisco Systems' firewalls and simplification of the Wi-Fi security codes and procedures are being looked into as well. And in addition, improvements to the web browser, including the addition of a cut-and-paste option are being addressed.
Another more obvious enhancement European operators would like to see on the iPhone before it crosses the Atlantic is the addition of 3G capability.
Other recent iPhone rumours have suggested that Orange could be lined up to be Apple's iPhone partner in France. There is speculation that an announcement could be made at the forthcoming Apple Expo in Paris, which runs from 25th to 29th of September.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile has been identified as the most likely potential Apple mobile operator partner in Germany, while O2 has previously been cited as a possible UK candidate for the iPhone, too.

Vodafone to bring Apple iPhone to India

New Delhi, May 6 Vodafone, on Tuesday, said that it had inked a deal with Apple to become the first telecom operator to officially launch the iPhone in the Indian market along with nine other countries. “Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, India, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network,” said the UK-based telecom giant in a release.

Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone company by revenue, had lost out on exclusive deals with Apple last year in both the UK and German Markets, where the contracts were won by O2 and T-Mobile networks, respectively. With the announcement of the above mentioned deal with Vodafone, Apple has recorded a marked shift in strategy of selling its device through a single operator in every country as two telecoms Companies, Vodafone and Telecom Italia will now have the licence to sell iPhone in Italy. According to the buzz, Australia may also see two to three players selling the device.

Currently the Apple iPhone is available in the US, France, Ireland, Austria, Germany and UK. US has the highest number of iPhone subscribers in the world, followed by China and Russia - despite the fact that Apple doesn’t have deals with local operators in both these countries. Till now, iPhone was distributed by AT&T in United States, Telefonica's O2 in Britain and Deutsche Telekom in Germany etc. According to telecom analysts, as the device begins to be sold by multiple operators, consumers will be the main beneficiaries. Till now the preferred way to grab an iPhone in India was to get someone to bring it from USA . But such phones had to be unlocked by select softwares available online. Unlocking the Apple iPhone without losing call quality has been a matter of hot debate since the time of its global launch.