Italian newspaper La Repubblica is reporting that Apple will launch the 3G iPhone in Italy with Telecom Italia in a matter of weeks. But unlike previous carrier agreements, there will be no revenue sharing or long-term exclusives. If so, this would mark a radical departure for Apple which has so far insisted on both. Telecom Italia will still have an exclusive for a number of months but after that, there will be nothing preventing Apple from offering the iPhone to other Italian carriers.
If this turns out to be true, the iPhone could sell for more in Italy than other European countries as Apple seeks to offset some of the lost revenues it would have seen from a revenue sharing plan.
Is Apple changing strategies because it is finding difficult to sign additional carriers to revenue sharing exclusive deals? Apple may simply have decided that it is better to forgo the revenue sharing plans to get more iPhones into the hands of customers.
Note: The ‘More information’ link will take you to an article in Italian. [Google translation]