India’s wait for the popular touch-screen gadget, iPhone, would be over before the year-end. Although the phone is available in gray market for quite a time, but it is not officially launched in India. Till now the preferred way to grab an iPhone in India was to get someone to bring it from USA . But such phones had to be unlocked by selected software’s available online. Unlocking the Apple iPhone without losing call quality has been a matter of hot debate since the time of its global launch. But, the wait for officially available IPhone, seems to end now, after the announcement made on May 06, 2008.

Mobile services provider Vodafone in an announcement revealed that it has signed an agreement with software products major Apple to sell iPhone in India, besides nine other markets.

Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, India, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network.

The UK telecom’s giant said in a release.

Although in the US, AT&T has an exclusive arrangement with Apple for iPhone, this is not true for all the iPhone markets. For instance, in Italy, experts said that at least two operators-Telecom’s Italia and Vodafone-are likely to share the rights. In India too, Vodafone sharing the rights with other operators cannot be ruled out.

Also, Indian Cellular Association (ICA) president Pankaj Mohindroo pointed out that, by the time iPhone is launched in India around October-November, its price could come down to as low as $200. So, anyone can expect a major downfall in the prices of other mobile phones in a range of 10-30% or even more.

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