Mobile phone operator Vodafone announced this morning that it has secured the rights to sell Apple's iPhone in the UK and Ireland.
Rival firm Orange revealed that it too had come to a similar arrangement with the smartphone provider yesterday.
With these two big players in the UK mobile market now involved in selling the product that was, until this week, exclusively sold by O2, consumers could end up benefitting from a potential price war.
Vodafone's deal with Apple will commence in 2010, while Orange's is set to begin sooner than that, which may result in handset prices coming down for the traditionally busy Christmas period.
It seems apt that big-name firms should be battling over iPhone sales as it was this week voted Britain's coolest brand in the 2009 CoolBrands' survey.
Commenting on Monday, chief executive of Orange UK Tom Alexander said there was an "affinity" between Orange and Apple customers, according to the Independent.
In a staff memo, he remarked: "It's one of the most sought-after phones by our customers and is widely acknowledged as one of the best devices made in the history of mobile. And now it's on Orange."
