With the recent WWDC Keynote announcement. The new iPhone 3G was announced with a price point of (less than $199 in all countries). And over 70 countries will get the iPhone by September 2008. Two of those countries not listed was Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Two of the biggest mobile communication consumers in the region.
As for the UAE at least, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was opposed to to exclusive deal. Probably because of monopoly issues, which is odd considering that VOIP services are blocked in the UAE.
The only hope for Saudi Arabia users to get the iPhone is that Apple release an unlocked iPhone and sell it at full price. Also note that Arabic support is still missing in the iPhone despite the fact that 3 Arabic speaking countries: Egypt (Orange and Vodafone), Jordan and Qatar are getting the iPhone.
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