Apple is calling a press conference in London next Tuesday, which has some speculating that they are going to announce their European iPhone partners.
Apple calls on UK press as iPhone talk swirls - Yahoo News
Apple, whose slick, touch-screen device combines its popular iPod music player, a video player and Web browser, is expected to hand a UK sale deal to Spanish Telefonicas O2 UK unit, a German deal to Deutsche Telekoms T-Mobile and a French deal to France Telecoms Orange.
Apple declined to divulge details about the planned news conference in London, and an Apple spokesman in Germany said only that the company would announce which telecoms operators had clinched the sales deal by the end of September.
T-Mobile still hasn’t officially confirmed reports that it will be carrying the iPhone in Germany, but it looks like a little mistake revealed a reference to the iPhone on their website (story in German).
Following up on our earlier post that T-mobile has secured the iPhone franchise in Germany, the story is now being picked up by a number of news outlets.
Fox News picks up the original story and adds that France Telecom’s Orange is expected to get the French iPone franchise.
The International Herald tribune adds that if T-mobile lands the deal, it probably means that Vodafone is out of the running in other countries as well.
Deutsche Welle notes that T-mobile also has a strong position in Eastern Europe which might put them in the front running in that area as well.
It sounds like we could be moving closer to a European iPhone announcement in the next few weeks, with the phones shipping in late fall or early winter. What’s intriguing about this is that the phones will almost certainly by 3G, which raises the possibility that 3G-capable could arrive in the US at the same time, either through the grey-market, or through official channels.
Press reports iPhone deal with T-Mobile in Germany at European iPhone News
Articles in the european press suggest the deals with Deutsche Telecom’s T-mobile for German coverage, and there are rumors Vodafone in the UK will be announced soon, with the phones debuting in the late fall or early winter.
The Rheinische Post said T-mobile will be offering the handset in Germany on November 1st for about €450 ($613/£304). Reuters also has the story
The rumors about an iPhone announcement with Vodafone still continue to churn. Though it just seems to be a rehash of the old rumor that the european iPhone would be announced last Monday.
A team of hackers trying to unlock all the secrets of the iPhone discovered a stash of image files on the iPhone that are apparently for supported carriers (Default_CARRIER_TMOBILE.png & Default_CARRIER_VODAFONE.png). In addition to AT&T and Cingular, there are logo images for T-mobile and Vodafone. So, it seems that the iPhone is on it’s way. The question now is when.
via Engadget
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