iEphemera: Apple Considers Other Carriers, iPhone Hits Ireland March 14

A few small pieces of iPhone news popped up this week that will be of interest to users in both the U.S. and Ireland:

• Tim Cook, Apple's COO, said at a Goldman Sachs event this week that Apple is not "married" to its current iPhone carrier model, in which the company chooses a single carrier in each country to offer the iPhone. Business conditions, said Cook, will determine whether this changes. Those conditions may include the strong desire to unlock phones that I've written about before.
• Ireland is getting the iPhone on March 14th. Rate plans will run 45-100 Euros/month for up to 700 minutes and 250 text messages. O2, the UK carrier, will rep the phone there.
• Hard as it may be to believe, estimates say that 40% of the iPods sold at the 2007 holiday season went to first-time iPod buyers.