Precedent: Last major Russian carrier drops deal with Apple

Many carriers all over the world have jumped through all sorts of hoops in order to secure that precious iPhone deal with Apple but this is the first time carriers that have already offered the Apple smartphone are giving up on it.

According to Hi-Tech Russia VimpelCom known by its Beeline brand has broken all ties with Apple over serving the iPhone after its contract expired.

This is the third (and final) major carrier in Russia that has gone this road and some hypothesize that Apple's conditions are not ideal. Others think that a newly-inked deal with Samsung is the reason VimpelCom distanced itself from Apple.

In any case this doesn't mean that Apple devices will be completely gone from the large and demanding Russian market. Apple already has a functioning online store with a brick and mortar one in the works. However, those looking to purchase the smartphone at a subsidized price with a contract will be out of luck.

Apple's market share in Russia for the first quarter of this year shrunk from 9% in Q1 2012 to 8.4%. This, combined with the strong performance of WP in the country has allowed carriers to give up on the iPhone, which is usually costing them quite dearly, without losing a lot of subscribers.