Orange To Help iPhone

In the latest agreement to put the iPhone in the hands of international users, France's Orange said Friday that it has signed a deal to offer the popular smart phone in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In a brief statement, Orange said it will supply the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and its African markets later this year.

Earlier this month, Telecom Italia said it had signed a deal to bring the iPhone to Italy. Vodafone also said it had secured the iPhone for its customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

Also this month, Mexico's America Movil, which has 159.2 million wireless subscribers, said it plans to offer the iPhone to its Latin American audience later this year. Last month, Rogers Communications announced a partnership to supply iPhones to its Canadian customers.

Some observers speculate that Apple could soon release the next generation of the iPhone, which will run on the faster, newest cell phone technology known as 3G. The company said this week that Jobs will be speaking at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next month, when he could presumably make such an announcement.

Apple also plans to release new software next month for the iPhone, which will make it better suited for corporate users and offer new programs, such as mobile games designed for its touch-screen and motion-sensing interface.
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