Vodafone announces iPhone for Egypt and India

Vodafone has announced today that it has signed an agreement to take Apple's iPhone to ten new markets around the globe, including Egypt and India.

According to a very brief statement from the company, it will be selling the iPhone in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

The announcement gives no further details other than to say that the iPhone will be launched in these markets "later this year" and will be sold for use on the Vodafone network, meaning no unlocked handset sales.

A Vodafone spokesman told itp.net that there were no other launches being announced at present, and that pricing and timing for launches in the new territories was not being released.

The announcement may bring a possible launch in the Gulf region closer, as UK-based Vodafone is the majority shareholder in the consortium that won Qatar's second mobile licence in December. Vodafone also has a partnership agreement with Zain Bahrain, and a previous business relationship with Zain Kuwait. See Vodafone's statement here.

Speculation is also building that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will unveil a new 3G, GPS-enabled iPhone at this year's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference at the start of June. A number of UK retailers have run down stocks of the existing model, and there are also rumours that Chinese manufacturer Foxconn has been contracted to produce three million units of the new phone for May.