With the ‘gray market’ delivering nearly 500,000 iPhones to Russia, Apple has decided to get wise and ink a deal that would bring a legal iPhone 3G to Russia’s MTS. MTS now becomes the last of the country’s ‘big three’ carriers to announce a distribution agreement for the iPhone, but has decided to keep most of the details private. What we can tell you is that the deal was made less than a week after MTS’s major rivals, Vimpelcom and MegaFon, said they reached deals with Apple.
With over 500,000 iPhones being used in Russia, the country becomes the second largest market for the iPhone outside of the United States. Most Analysts agree that Apple decided to sign a deal with the ‘big three’ in Russia because good exposure in the local market depends on a handset that is not limited to run on only one network. No word on pricing or a release date have been given at this time, but with ‘gray market’ iPhones being purchased in Russia for $1000, it will be interesting to see how close MTS sticks to the $199 price tag.
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