It’s not a big country — you could drop it on Rhode Island and have 546 square miles left over — but it still counts. So the news, reported Wednesday, that the iPhone 3G will be coming this fall to the 480,000 citizens of Luxembourg brings to 75 the number of nations with iPhone contracts.
Luxembourg, squeezed in between Belgium, France and Germany, is the last sovereign Grand Duchy in Europe, a constitutional monarchy headed by its own Grand Duke. It also boasts the world’s highest gross national product per capita, according to the CIA, and Europe’s highest mobile penetration. According to a report in the “Business & Technik” section of Wednesday’s Luxemburger Wort, the iPhone will be carried by VOXmobile, a subsidiary of France Telecom’s Orange.
Although Steve Jobs announced Monday that Apple (AAPL) had signed iPhone deals with carriers in 70 countries — a count, we’re happy to say, that agreed with ours — the dealmaking clearly continues. Earlier in the week, Apple added The Netherlands, Panama, Qatar and Venezuela to its iPhone roster. Still outstanding are the really big prizes: China and Russia.
For a (nearly) up-to-date list of countries and carriers, see AAPLinvestors here.