The iPhone's Biggest Opportunity for Growth is Asia

The number of cell phone operators that sell the iPhone is the key to helping Apple sell in Asia, its biggest opportunity for growth, according to Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty.

Fortune reports that Huberty analyzed 760 carriers in 225 countries from 2007 to 2001.

Over the past five years, the growth in total subscribers per year (17%) was split roughly 50/50 between new subscribers on existing carriers and subscribers signed up on new carriers. This holds true in spades, Huberty suggests, for Apple's iPhone, which since 2007 has gone from one carrier -- AT&T -- to nearly 230 carriers in 105 countries.


While Apple has definitely made progress in adding carriers. RIM, for example, has deals with 79% out of 760 operators. Apple's iPhone is only carried by 30% of those operators.

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