Apple's iPhone 3G is expected to be sold on the Russian market beginning at midnight on the night of October 2 to 3, through network providers such as MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon, Vedomosti reported.

The three telecommunications operators bought 15,000 devices from Apple and hope to sell them all by the end of this year. Apple is looking to sell 4.5 million iPhones in Russia by 2011.

MTS has announced that nearly 18,000 users have registered online to reserve an iPhone. Megafon stated it has gathered “several tens of thousands” of orders from users, Vedomosti reported. VimpelCom's Beeline network refused to comment on the number of users who have already planned to buy the phone. However, Mobile Research Group (MRG) analyst Eldar Murtazin predicts that the number may be close to 30,000 users.

iPhones with an 8 GB capacity will be sold for RUB 23,000 (US$918) while those with a 16 GB capacity will be sold for RUB 27,000 (US$1,078). According to Vedomisti, the price would be the same throughout the country, since Apple required that it be fixed.

Murtazin predicted that if these prices are not decreased, then only 100,000 phones would be sold by the end of 2008 and 500,000 by the end of next year. He said that while Russians may be fond of innovative gadgets, the iPhone 3G remains as an “improved version of the iPhone 2G,” Vedomosti stated. Furthermore, Murtazin pointed out that in the near future, Apple's competitors would be launching 10 mobile devices with perhaps more technological capabilities than the iPhone 3G.