Friday, May 16, 2008 -- 12:25 p.m. -- on my couch

To visualize the signing of contracts to bring iPhones to new countries, picture Steve Jobs with a jet pack on his back flying around the world with a big ol' rubber stamp, going BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

That pretty much sums it up. Country after country after country is getting on board, and today Orange is the latest to announce it's got big plans for the iPhone.

It's currently in France, but sacre bleu that's only the beginning.

And interestingly, more of the countries are overlapping, which truly speaks to the days of exclusivity being over -- well, in some places.

Let's take a look at the details of today's announcement, shall we?

Orange says that as of later this year, it will offer the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland as well as Orange’s African markets.

Those African markets weren't broken down, but it was easy to check and see where Orange does business in Africa. So, assuming, the iPhone comes to all of those countries, here's what we're talking about: Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius and Niger.

Either way, we're talking about one of the most potentially rapid expansions/explosions of a product I've seen in ... well, ever.

***And you know what? I look forward to welcoming readers from every single one of those countries -- both mentioned in this post and past posts -- and growing this community just as fast as Steve is growing his game-changing communications device.***

Please do let me know if you are located anywhere the iPhone has been mentioned to date. I'd love to welcome you to the site. And, even if you don't live in one of these areas, stop by because I'm sure your day is coming soon.

Thanks for calling.

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What are the chances the iPhone will be offered by Verizon. Cingular doesn't work very well in western IL so as much as I want one I have to suffer quietly with my Verizon Treo. As a Mac user I really want to add this phone to my stable of Mac products.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, Apple and AT&T have exclusivity until at least 2012 -- 5 years from 2007 launch. So unless there's an amazing loophole that no one other than Steve Jobs knows about, it's not happening anytime soon, I'm afraid Todd.

Apple and AT&T have exclusivity until at least 2012 -- five years from 2007 launch? I've read this before, but also read that the agreement only may be a two-year contract. I don't think this information has ever been made public, has it?

Have you actually seen this documented and the five years reported as fact? I recall much conjecture about the length of the AT&T contract when the iPhone was launched, but no definitive factual reporting. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In the past, I recall that AT&T was very aggressive in securing one year, exclusive contracts on hot phones (such as the Motorola RAZR). It seems odd that Apple would be signing up with multiple carriers in some foreign countries, which it is now doing, but not be in a position to offer it to multiple U.S. carriers (However, I see no signs that another U.S. carrier will get the iPhone this year).

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