TeliaSonera To Bring iPhone to Nordic, Baltic Countries

Nordic telecom company TeliaSonera has entered into a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia later this year, according to a statement released by the company on Tuesday.

The company did not say whether its deal with Apple would be exclusive, like that between Apple and U.S. dealer and service provider AT&T Wireless, or whether it would follow in the model the company has taken with Italy, where multiple providers will carry the iPhone. Before the Italian deal earlier this month, Apple had been signing exclusive deals with carriers on a country-by-country basis. O2, for example, is Apple's British iPhone partner.

TeliaSonera also made no comment on whether it would be selling Apple's current iPhone product or whether it would be bringing the much-anticipated and speculated 3G version of the iPhone to the Nordic and Baltic regions.

Analysts and Apple enthusiasts have speculated that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, will announce the launch of the 3G iPhone at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference on June 9 in San Francisco. The company, however, has neither confirmed nor denied reports that it is manufacturing a version of the iPhone that will run on 3G networks which are capable of transmitting data at faster speeds than the current product.

Apple is also launching iPhone software 2.0 in June, bringing compatibility with Microsoft Exchange to the iPhone, among other features.

The iPhone was criticized on its release for its lack of Exchange compatibility, rendering it less useful as a business tool.

Apple said it expects to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008.