Early Adaptor

Apple Shifts Strategy To Fight iPhone Unlocking

Over the past two weeks alone, Apple has inked new deals with wireless carriers in Asia, India, Italy, Australia, Singapore and Canada. What’s truly interesting, however, is that some of these agreements are non-exclusive, meaning the iPhone will soon be available through multiple carriers in countries such as Italy and Australia. That’s a profound shift from Apple’s standard MO, which generally entails selecting the largest provider in a given country and then selling the iPhone exclusively through that one channel — and of course demanding a cut of the profits along the way. But with these new non-exclusive deals, some analysts say Apple is finally realizing its traditional business model just won’t work on a global scale. Moreover, there are actually benefits to being doing away with exclusively. By opening up to the idea of working with multiple carriers in a given country, Apple could actually do much more to squelch the international iPhone unlocking business, says IDC senior mobile analyst Chris Hazelton, and at at the same time ensure it meets (and even exceeds) its well-established goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.
Analysts: New International Deals Mean Apple Will Exceed Its 10M iPhone Goal