Telkom’s new mobile arm, 8ta, is in talks with Apple about bringing the US company’s popular iPhone 4 handset to SA.

If the two parties reach agreement, 8ta, which Telkom launched on Thursday night, will be the third operator in the country to offer the hot-selling product. Vodacom recently lost its exclusivity over the iPhone, with MTN now selling the device on its network.

But it’s far from clear yet whether Telkom and Apple will actually reach an agreement, says 8ta managing executive Amith Maharaj.

“We have had discussions with Apple but their business model is quite radical, and so is ours, and at this stage we are trying to see how it could be mutually beneficial for both parties,” Maharaj says.

The discussions with Apple are “ongoing”.

Meanwhile, 8ta will have a range of handsets available when its network is launched on Monday, including high-end smartphones from companies such as Nokia and HTC.

The 8ta website lists Nokia’s new N8 and HTC’s Android-based Desire, among 20 devices in all.

Maharaj says 8ta will offer a “wide spectrum of handsets”. He says he is under nondisclosure related to some devices 8ta will be offering. It is sourcing handsets from Allied Mobile, a cellular logistics company.

Suggestions that 8ta would offer an exclusive range of smartphones running Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 operating system have proved wide of the mark. “That was just pure speculation,” Maharaj says. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral