T-Mobile gets the iPhone in Germany and Austria

Us Brits had our iPhone fun yesterday, but today it’s the turn of Germany and Austria, with the announcement that T-Mobile will be selling Apple’s handset exclusively in those markets. It’ll cost €399, which is around £277 or $553 at current exchange rates.

All eyes will now be on France and Spain, which may be getting their own iPhone announcements tomorrow. Rumour has it that Orange has bagged the rights in those countries, which if true would confirm Apple’s divide and conquer strategy for Europe.

One thing that hasn’t been discussed that much is what ‘exclusivity’ means in these deals. Specifically, will these operators have exclusive rights to the iPhone forever, or is it a limited period of, say, a year? And if so, does this mean we’ll be seeing a 3G iPhone available from other operators next year? One to ponder.

(via iPhonic)

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