“When Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced last week that the company would begin selling its high-speed iPhone 3G in 70 countries this summer, Russian fans were enraged that their country was conspicuously absent from the list,” Tai Adelaja reports for The Moscow TImes.
“But in a televised interview last week, Jobs offered what could be a bit of much-needed relief for iPhone lovers, saying the gadget could officially go on sale in Russia by the end of the year. ‘We just didn’t have a chance to close [a deal] with Russia. And I think you’ll see [agreements] happen later this year,’ Jobs said on CNBC last week,” Adelaja reports.
“He said not having a distribution agreement with local mobile operators made it impossible for the coveted handsets to go on sale officially. In the absence of a distribution network, a flourishing black market for iPhones has sprung up in Russia, where there are already an estimated 300,000 users,” Adelaja reports.
“Yekaterina Osadchaya, spokeswoman for VimpelCom, the country’s second-largest operator, said Sunday that Apple’s new strategy, including price reductions on handsets, would bring many Russian operators on board,” Adelaja reports. “‘VimpelCom is looking at the possibility of holding talks with Apple about a distribution agreement for the iPhones,’ Osadchaya said. ‘This is a very auspicious year for the handset in Russia because we are rolling out 3G technology in 20 cities this summer.'”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Pieter” for the heads up.]