Vodacom has lost its exclusive arrangement to resell and distribute Apple's high-end iPhone 4 in SA.
However, it has gone ahead with its campaign to take pre-orders ahead of the device's unveiling in the country.
Richard Boorman, Vodacom's group executive for corporate affairs, confirms the deal the network operator had to market the iPhone ended on 1 July.
“I am not exactly sure why the arrangement ended, but I believe that MTN may start offering the iPhone,” he notes.
Vodacom, through its relationship with Vodafone, has been the exclusive reseller of the iPhone in SA for almost two years, beginning with the second-generation iPhone 3G and then the iPhone 3GS.
However, due to South African law, Vodacom was unable to lock those phones into its network, and had to sell them for use on any of the country's two other networks - Cell C and MTN.
Distribution policy
The loss of exclusivity by Vodacom may mirror Apple's apparent new distribution policy of expanding outlets that carry the iPhone and not being tied down to one network operator.
Overseas media speculate that, particularly in Europe, Apple is sensitive to competition concerns.
Last weekend, Vodacom began its awareness campaign for the arrival of the iPhone 4 in SA.
An SMS sent out by Vodacom's marketing department on Saturday says the new iPhone 4 is coming to Vodacom “soon”. It encourages recipients to pre-register their order, or to visit Vodacom's Web site for more information.
According to Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys's comments on Twitter, the group has sold more than 90 000 iPhone units, and the new model should be available in September.
“Vodacom certainly wants to capitalise on the hype that has surrounded the iPhone 4, which has broken a number of sales records for Apple,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of research company World Wide Worx.
Who else?
More than 1.7 million iPhone 4s were sold by Apple in the first three days of hitting the global market on 24 June. However, it received some bad publicity, with reports of problems with the device's external antenna, which loses signal if the phone is held in a certain way, as well as reported screen problems.
“Those issues should be sorted out by the time the phone hits SA's shores,” Goldstuck says.
Karin Fourie, spokesperson for Cell C, says: “It is still too early to say if Cell C will be selling the iPhone.”
MTN would only state that it “does not respond to rumours or speculation in the market”.
Robin Olivier, a director at independent Apple reseller Digicape, says his company was alerted to Vodacom's pre-ordering campaign late last week. He believes the loss of exclusivity may open up new competition in the market.
“We had to sign an exclusive agreement with Vodacom to resell the iPhone that precluded us from offering any of the other network operators' packages. Hopefully, the new structure will allow us to offer wider choices to our customers and bring down the cost of ownership,” he notes.
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