Andre Yoskowitz
25 Aug 2008 13:50
According to a new Russian newspaper report, the top three mobile phone carriers in Russia have agreed to distribute the Apple iPhone 3G in the country, selling 1.8 million units every year through 2011.
The paper, Vedomosti says that MTS has signed on to sell 1 million iPhones over the next three years while small carriers Vimpelcom and MegaFon have each agreed to sell 1.5 million units per year for the next two years.
Another interesting fact from the paper's report was that the phone would sell for the equivalent of $1000 USD without contract or $200 USD with contract.
Although the iPhone is not officially sold in Russia, unauthorized sales have been growing exponentially with industry experts saying sales of unlocked iPhones are at about 20,000 per month now in the country. With over 500,000 estimated iPhone users, Russia has the third largest population of iPhone owners in the world behind the US and China.