German department store chain Karstadt will sell Apple’s coveted iPhone, Karstadt said on Monday, adding that it was too soon to say whether the phones would be sold with or without a contract.

“We will offer the iPhone,” a Karstadt spokeswoman said, confirming a report due to be published in German weekly WirtschaftsWoche. The spokeswoman said Karstadt hoped to have the phones in stock in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Apple has not yet given details of how it plans to sell the iPhone in Europe beyond saying it will be available in late 2007. A spokesman for Apple Europe declined to comment on any plans to sell the phones in Karstadt stores.

Around 700,000 of the gadgets — which combine a phone with an iPod music player, video player and Web browser in a sleek touch-screen design — are estimated to have been sold in their first weekend in shops in the United States at the end of June.

The iPhone costs $500 or $600 in the United States, depending on memory capacity, plus at least another $1,400 for a two-year service commitment. Network operator AT&T has an exclusive deal to supply U.S. service for the iPhone.

It is unknown whether any single European operator, such as Telefonica, Vodafone or T-Mobile will strike a similar exclusive deal with Apple for Europe.

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