iPhone goes global via Vodafone, no longer carrier exclusive

It's all about negotiation power

Let's take a step back, and see what this first generation iPhone really is/was. Nothing more than a litmus test/barometer reading for global demand for the product. Look at what apple has shown:

1) Very high original demand for the product with lines for days outside of stores

2) Even higher demand when the price was cut, PROVING that if carriers were to subsidize the cost of the phone, they would sell a lot more phones

3) The "significant" amount of phones being reported during apple's earnings report has shown a high demand internationally for the iPhone where it is not even supported by apple

4) All of which was proven without 3G, GPS, copy/paste, exchange support, and who knows what else will be on the upcoming generations of iPhone

When you remove personal emotion, and philosophies from the decision to release the first generation the way apple did, you can see that this will be looked back upon as a very smart way to introduce the product.

It could ALMOST be compared to the way the iPod launched on the Mac platform only, but then experienced explosive growth once it was compatible with PCs as well.