Vodacom has lost its exclusive arrangement to resell and distribute Apple's high-end iPhone 4 in SA.
However, it has gone ahead with its campaign to take pre-orders ahead of the device's unveiling in the country. Richard Boorman, Vodacom's group executive for corporate affairs, confirms the deal the network operator had to market the iPhone ended on 1 July.
“I am not exactly sure why the arrangement ended, but I believe that MTN may start offering the iPhone,” he notes. Vodacom, through its relationship with Vodafone, has been the exclusive reseller of the iPhone in SA for almost two years, beginning with the second-generation iPhone 3G and then the iPhone 3GS.
However, due to South African law, Vodacom was unable to lock those phones into its network, and had to sell them for use on any of the country's two other networks – Cell C and MTN.
The loss of exclusivity by Vodacom may mirror Apple's apparent new distribution policy of expanding outlets that carry the iPhone and not being tied down to one network operator.
Overseas media speculate that, particularly in Europe, Apple is sensitive to competition concerns.
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