So the second phone company in Dubai, "du", has just announced they're getting the iPhone.

Etisalat, the first phone company, has been selling the iPhone since February of this year.

As with most things in the UAE the government owns a significant chunk of both companies.

Also, as with most things in the UAE, it's tough to figure out just who owns what.

I've heard the government owns 60% of Etisalat, while du gets tricky. Here's one article I saw: "du is 39.5% owned by the UAE Federal Government, 19.75% by Mubadala Development Company, 19.5% by Emirates Communications & Technology Company LLC and the remaining stake by public shareholders. It is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and trades under the name du."

The thing is, Mubadala Development Company is owned by the Abu Dhabi government, and Emirates Communications & Technology Company is owned by the government of Dubai.

So it looks to me (although I could be wrong), that the government really owns 78.75% of du.