iPhone August launches

(Updated with additional countries)The iPhone 3G will be launched in five more countries on August 22nd, according to announcements. India's Bharti Airtel, the Czech Republic's Telefonica, Estonia's EMT, Romania's Orange and the Philippines' Globe Telecom have all revealed that the iPhone will ship domestically by the end of the month. Only GT has announced any official pricing plans, but details for the other carriers are expected later through their official websites.

Vodafone is set to be a second carrier of the iPhone in India, but has yet to declare a release date. Unfortunately, India does not yet have a fully operational 3G network, so carriers in India will not be able to offer the full features of the iPhone.

The iPhone 3G is currently being sold in 22 countries, and with these five additional launches, Apple moves closer to its goal of bringing the iPhone 3G to 70 countries by the end of the year.

Update: Poland, Hungary and several Latin American countries will also see the iPhone 3G launched on August 22nd. Poland will have two carriers release the device, Orange and Era, while in Hungary, T-Mobile has won the exclusive rights. America Movil has announced that it will be launching the iPhone 3G in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

by MacNN Staff