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Russian operators want to renegotiate Apple iPhone deal - paper

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Russia's "big three" cell phone operators are trying to renegotiate a deal to sell Apple's iPhone in Russia after sales plummeted amid the global financial crisis, Kommersant business daily said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's "big three" cell phone operators are trying to renegotiate a deal to sell Apple's iPhone in Russia after sales plummeted amid the global financial crisis, Kommersant business daily said on Tuesday.

Apple's iPhone 3G went on sale in Russia last October with MTS, the country's largest cell phone operator, pledging to sell 1 million phones over three years, while Megafon and VimpelCom were tied into selling 1.5 million units over two years. However, iPhone sales in Russia have failed to match the successes seen in other countries, including the U.S., which sold one million units in three days.

With just 230,000 iPhones sold since October and 2009, and sales in Russia plummeting by 30-40% along with the 30% depreciation in the value of the ruble, all three Russian operators are looking to review their agreement with Apple and reduce the number of phones they are obliged to sell and the price they pay for them.

"Due to the crisis, since the start of the year iPhone sales have dropped by 30-40%, but new models could help boost sales. For example, in the fall of 2008 there was information that Apple was ready to release an iPhone Nano, but this didn't happen," a representative from one of Russia's cell phone operators told Kommersant.

Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, pointed to mounting losses incurred by the Russian operators, and said that when the iPhone officially went on sale in Russia 400,000 units were imported, of which only 55% have been sold.

Murtazin was cited by Kommersant as saying, "The indirect and direct loses to MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon have reached $60 million following the ruble depreciation."

Apple originally set a price for the iPhone at around ($900) euros for 8GB model and ($1,000) for the 16GB model, exclusive of VAT and customs duties of 23%.

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