European iPhone deal to be announced when US sales hit one million

Sales estimates suggest it could be as soon as the end of the week

3 July 2007 15:28 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

All was quiet on Monday following predictions of a big Apple announcement to confirm Vodafone, T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse as the joint three vendors of the iPhone in Europe, but according to Newswireless.net, who broke the story, there's a good reason...

Apple is hoping to announce successful sales figures of one million iPhones sold by Thursday, which sources say will be the moment to reveal the European iPhone deal.

Quoting German sources, Guy Kewney says that so far the deal has been held up by legal wranglings, he quotes his sources:

"What we're hearing is that there was a contract drawn up in Germany; but that when Vodafone's Newbury lawyers saw it, they said they weren't signing a contract under German law, and it had to be re-drafted under UK legislation."

Apple has yet to announce official sales figures for the iPhone, although there is no doubt that the launch was a success with the most recent estimates from industry analysts coming in at 700,000 sold so far.

Apparently completed "activation" of iPhone accounts on the AT&T network shows 600,000 active users.

This would mean that if Newswireless.net's German sources are on the money, it could be as soon as the end of the week to hear those golden words: "iPhone", "Europe" and "3G"...