Apple's iPhone invades Austria and Ireland
March 14, 2008: 8:20 AM ET
The iPhone continued its march across Europe today.
Three months after it landed in Britain, German and France, Apple's (AAPL) mobile phone and computing device crossed into Austria and Ireland, where it will be carried by T-Mobile and O2, respectively.
It's all part of Apple's campaign to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 by growing its international markets one region at a time.
The company now has its eyes on the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, according to a round-up of news reports assembled last week by Andy Space at 9-to-5 Mac. In Japan, Apple is reported to be talking to both DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile.
The biggest prize, of course, will be the emerging markets in the Far East. "We will one day enter China," COO Tim Cook told Apple shareholders at the company's annual meeting on March 4. "We're not saying when, and we will one day enter India." (link)
Cook has said that Apple is not wedded to any particular model as it chooses carriers in the countries it occupies. Nor, it seems, are its partners married to any particular user agreement. Neither the Irish nor the Austrians get free data plans, for example, and although O2 provides Visual Voicemail and free Wi-Fi in the U.K., that's not something they're offering in Ireland. (link)
