Apple is continuing its rapid international rollout of the iPhone 4S, announcing today that the device will go on sale in Hong Kong and 14 additional markets beginning November 11, with pre-orders in many markets launching on November 4. The launch will bring the number of countries with the iPhone 4S to 29, making the device’s international rollout one of the fastest in the smartphone industry. And it’s not slowing down: Apple now says it expects to have the iPhone 4S available in more than 70 countries by the end of 2011.
The new iPhone 4S markets are Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and South Korea. Pre-orders will be available on November 4 in about half the new countries; customers in Albania, El Salvador, Guatamela, Malta, Montenegro, and Panama will have to wait until the 11th.
The rapid international rollout will no doubt boost numbers for Apple’s current financial quarter, which will include end-of-year holiday sales: the growing international availability of the iPhone 4S may be one of the reasons Apple CEO Tim Cook was unabashedly optimistic about the iPhone 4S’s sales potential for the quarter, after Apple’s most recent results delivered something of a disappointment to investors now accustomed to Apple delivering a series of hugely successful quarters.
