Orange Lands Multi-Country iPhone Deal

French wireless operator Orange has announced it will be offering the Apple iPhone in ten European and Middle Eastern nations, plus Orange's existing African markets.

Apple continues to sign agreements with international mobile operators to bring the company’s iPhone to a larger market, just as the company is reportedly prepping to launch a new 3G-enabled version of the device, along with version 2.0 iPhone software. Today’s announcement come’s from France’s Orange, which issued a one-sentence statement saying it has reached an agreement with Apple to distribute the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland later in 2008, as well as Orange’s African markets.

The brevity or Orange’s announcement follows along the line of similar announcements from international mobile operators Vodafone, SingTel, America Movil. Like those carrier announcements, the companies have offered only that the iPhone would be available in 2008; no pricing or product information has been released.

According to the Associated Press, Orange’s iPhone deal will be exclusive in Belgium and Romania, but non-exclusive in other markets.