Facing a slowdown in global sales of the iPhone, Apple has changed its marketing strategy by agreeing to sell the device through two mobile operators in Italy after previously relying on exclusive deals with individual operators in other countries.

Vodafone and Telecom Italia Mobile, the leader in the Italian cell phone market, said they had reached agreements with Apple to sell the multimedia telephone. Vodafone plus said it would sell the iPhone in nine other countries: the Czech Republic, Greece, Portugal, India, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

“It was going to be difficult for Apple to continue on an exclusivity basis,” said Carolina Milanesi, the research director for mobile devices at Gartner in London. “Opening up to more operators will widen their addressable market and therefore their overall sales potential.”

According to two humans with knowledge of the situation, in June Apple plans to start selling a long-awaited faster version of the iPhone

in Italy that works on third-generation, or 3G, mobile networks. The faster networks typically cut download times for
music, video and Web browsing to less than one-third the moment needed on networks used by the existing iPhones.

Neither Apple nor its partners have disclosed the timetable for introducing the 3G phones in any market. Apple, Vodafone and Telecom Italia declined to say whether their deals covered a 3G iPhone. The new strategy in Italy, analysts said, could be the forerunner for a broader iPhone distribution elsewhere.

Until now, Apple has used exclusive partners in Europe and the United States. O2, owned by Telefonica in Spain, has sold the device in Britain and Ireland, France Telecom in France and Deutsche Telekom in Germany and Austria. Under these deals, operators have agreed to hand by to Apple a percentage of revenue from the use of mobile input services.

Neil Mawston, an…

Orginal post by Mike

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