iPhone Hits The Middle East

The iPhone is going global.

Apple has announced it’ll team up with European cell provider Orange to bring the popular device to nearly a dozen more countries, including some in the Middle East and Africa.

The deal will soon land the phone in places like Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Portugal, Egypt, and Jordan — a big jump from the current limited list of nations carrying it.

The AP points out, though, that users in many of those uncovered countries have already had their hands on the iPhone by way of “unlocked” devices. They’ve basically modified the phones, against Apple’s wishes, to make them work over any network.

Apple hopes to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.