I am a bit baffled by this news. Media Markt a major electronics retailer in Germany that belongs to the Metro Group has elaborate advertising for the Apple iPhone on its site.

Under the tagline "Touching is Believing" Media Markt shows the main features of the iPhone. The description says that the sale starts end of this year.

What is baffling me is that Media Markt seems to be sure that they will be selling the iPhone in their stores. They do already sell mobile phones from different carriers.
Still, I assume they would need to have agreements in place already with a carrier to sell the iPhone in their stores. This would mean that Apple finalized a deal for the iPhone at least in Germany already.
See the iPhone pages on the Media Markt site. Via Heise (German).