<P> On May 6, 2008, Vodafone announced that they had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhone in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey . </P> <P> Subsequent announcements confirmed that Apple is moving away from exclusive one - carrier deals . Soon after Vodafone's announcement, TIM announced that it would also be selling iPhone in Italy, on May 12, 2008, Optus confirmed that it would sell iPhone in Australia and SingTel confirmed that it would be selling iPhone in India through its Indian Joint Venture, Airtel . </P> <P> On June 4, 2008, SoftBank Mobile released a press release stating that it would start selling iPhone in Japan during 2008 . </P> <P> Russia's second largest mobile operator, Beeline, announced on August 28, 2008 that they signed a contract with Apple to sell iPhone on the Russian market by late 2008 . The deal was rumoured to be non-exclusive, according to unofficial statements made by MTS and MegaFon . MTS and MegaFon belong to the "Russian Big Three", and were expected to release the iPhone 3G at the same time as Beeline . As predicted, MegaFon issued a press release regarding the iPhone 3G release on September 2, 2008 . </P>

When was the first iphone launched in india