View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/07/08/24/foreign.firms.seek.iphone
Friday, Aug 24, 2007 10:40am

Europe iPhone delays, comin...

Foreign cellular carrier companies like France Telecom's mobile unit, Orange, are working to secure contracts with Apple to provide service for the Cupertino-based company's iPhone. Orange has announced that it has not won the rights to market Apple's iPhone in France, and said that various mobile operators are still in talks with Apple which will likely prolong the decision for several weeks. "A launch date of September, as some reports have said, seems to me impossible," said Louis-Pierre Wenes, executive director of Orange. Wenes noted that an iPhone launch is possible in the fourth quarter of this year as Apple initially planned, according to Forbes.

Companies elsewhere in the world are also looking to ink deals with Apple surrounding its iPhone, such as KT Freetel in South Korea. As the second largest mobile service provider by sales in the country, KT Freetel today announced that it is looking to obtain rights to distribute the iPhone in South Korea, according to MarketWatch.