It would seem that all signs are pointing to a large international roll-out of the much ballyhooed iPhone 2.0. Why? Let me give you the skinny.

Vodafone confirmed yesterday that it has secured distribution rights for the iPhone in 10 countries… Yes, 10 countries. The countries are: India, Australia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. I’m particularly happy for the folks in Greece… as one of my digg fans recently pointed me towards this site: www.wewantapplegreece.com. Greece is clearly ‘jonesing’ for the iPhone, as is a large majority of the world.

T-Mobile has recently confirmed that it will introduce the iPhone in Austria, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia and Latin America.

Rogers Communications in Canada also recently confirmed their intent to launch the iPhone in Canada during the 2008 calendar year. Canadians, can I get a w00t!? (pray for reasonably priced data plans)

See how everything appears to be lining up for a huge international launch? I’m glad I’m not in charge of co-ordinating such a thing. However I would think that getting carriers on board in the above countries would not be such a hard task… at least not compared to China.

*smooth segue*

China would be the next monster to tackle. According to our friends at MacRumors and AppleInsider, the latest version of iPhone Software 2.0 has handwriting recognition for Chinese.

Exciting stuff indeed. 2008 is looking more and more to be the year of iPhone Proliferation… er, the year of the International iPhone… um… well you know what I mean.

[via MacWorld UK]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: iPhone, iPhone 2.0, Rogers Communications, T-Mobile, Vodafone