Both Vodafone and Orange announced this week that they will be carrying the iPhone in the UK (Orange later this year, Vodafone sometime next year), continuing Apple's 2009 trend of more carrier-agnostic distribution.
Fortune's Brainstorm Tech blog discusses a new report from a Morgan Stanley analyst, which makes the argument that the expiration of these exclusivity agreements will be leading drivers in not only Apple's share price, but in iPhone adoption rates.
Fortune quotes Morgan Stanley's Kathryn Huberty (the author of the report):
"We expect Apple to broaden iPhone carrier distribution over the next two years and believe this opportunity is under-appreciated by the investment community," she wrote. "This total opportunity is substantial — it adds up to an incremental 20.3M iPhone units and $3.76 in adjusted EPS, 100% and 41% of iPhone units and adjusted EPS respectively."
Huberty used France as the basis for her projections, noting that the iPhone's market share grew 136% after the government put an end to Apple's exclusive deal with Orange.
Although Huberty doesn't expect increases in other markets to be quite as significant, the loss of these agreements is one reason she expects Apple to sell 41.7 million iPhones in the 2010 calendar year.
Another 40 million iPhones could significantly shore-up Apple's percentage of the smart phone market (the real percentage, not the skewed sample some reports use).
Fortune notes that US users shouldn't expect a deal with Verizon (presuming one is in the works) until the company rolls out its 4G technology in 2011, but AT&T sufferers can always hope for another option.
iPhone owners and potential iPhone owners -- do more carrier options make you more likely to buy an iPhone? Does carrier impact your general decision when purchasing a phone? Let us know!