All those who're desperate for the JesusPhone to bless your shores need to read this list: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. Vodafone's just announced that its customers in these ten lucky countries will be able to buy iPhones for use on its network "later this year." [Vodafone]
Ten More Countries to be Blessed With iPhone
3:45 AM on Tue May 6 2008
By Kit Eaton
4,300 views
37 comments










Comments
It will be interesting to see how the iPhone performs in those countries where widely available 3G and high-end SE and Nokias have been prevailent for some time.
@Drvec: You are aware that they will be getting a 3G iPhone, right?
Apple will do very well, but other companies have a loyal fan base and they won't rip into their smartphone marketshare too badly. I think we'll find that many iPhone buyers are new to the smartphone market. Nokia will reign supreme in the EU for at a couple years.
Who cares? What I want to know is when is this country going to be blessed with the new 3G iPhone?
Am I being a jerk to question the reflection in this picture...
Oh! I'd heard Vodafone weren't that interested in the iPhone as it competes with their own music store, but good to see they've changed their minds :)
India doesnt have 3G, but it also has a fsat growing market :)
Yessss finally Czech republic, but hopefully it will be 3G version (and even more without 2 years contract, which Vodafone doesn't require here)
@kosikutioner: No.
And whats interesting there is still no Poland, country with nearly 40 mil. population. Well thay need proper roads first them less important things :)
From what I've read, the phone will cost US$700 and will not feature 3G. It will also be locked to Vodafone. So while the rest of the world spends their hard earned cash on over priced iPhones, America gets 3G... Way to go Sata- I mean Apple.
You guys are probably dialing on your iPhone 2's by the time an 1G iPhone is officially launched in Hong Kong.
We don't benefit from any iTunes services either. WTF
Wow, that reflection is quite a fail!
Well, good news for all those countries. Bad news for me, because Spain doesn´t appear in the list. Tired of waiting the announcement for my country.
iPhoneHellas !!!
@literato: I though spain was announcented recently
Typical Apple distribution system; after getting tired of looking fot the Ipod in Spain I finally bought the Creative Zen. Apple has the cutting-edge technology but they are never in the right place at the right time, Still no iphone in Spain and Italy??? Shortage of 16 gb iphones in New York?????? Boys, you have to check your supply-distribution system. You are just giving time to Nokia, HTC and RIM to copy your gadget and distribute it everywhere.
@Leonard Nimrod: Yes I was aware. My point was that the iPhone debuted in the US as a device offering many unique capabilities, whereas - in coutries like Australia - 3G has been around for years and in more phones than not. Similarly, we've had handsets like the N95/6 and w950/60 that offer large flash capacity, touch screen (in the case of the SE), google maps, opera browser and so on. These models for some reason were very late or non existent when the iPhone came out, though I'm not in the US so correct me if I'm wrong. I.e. the difference will be that the appeal from new capabilities won't be nearly so strong.
@Barfolemew: I'd be very surprised if it wasn't 3G. Despite all signs pointing to 3G, New Zealand (one of the countries on that list) only has 2 mobile networks. One is GSM with 3G, the other is a shitty CDMA network. Wtf would we do with a $700 EDGE iphone??
@Barfolemew: I'd be very surprised if it wasn't 3G. Here in New Zealand (one of the countries listed) there are only 2 mobile networks; one is GSM with 3G, the other is a crap CDMA network. WTF would we do with an EDGE iPhone?
The thing I'm worried about is Vodafone bloating the iPhone full of its branding like they do with every other phone they sell.
gah fuck.
This begs the following question:
So what?
If it's the v1.0 expect similar sales to the UK, France and Germany, i.e. not very good.
Unless they do something with the pricing that is.
@kuba.la:
No, there´s only a rumour about a contract between Apple and Telefonica, but no official announcement. Nevertheless, I hope we will have news about it in the next days/weeks.
Of course, I suppose that those countries will receive the 3G iPhone. If Apple pretends to sell an EDGE device in those markets, the business won´t be profitable neither for the buyers, nor for Apple itself.
Austin Powers was pretty flawed as a person.
Just sayin'.
Next up! Uggabugga telecom is gonna launch the iPhone in Zimbabwe. A spokesperson from Uggabugga telecom says that they're sure that the iPhone will do well on the Zimbabwean marked, with predicted sales of 9 units will capture a wooping 90% of the marked share in the country. Profits are expected to exceed that of international telecom clown Vodafone when it launched the iPhone in 10 countries earlier this year...
@literato:
it may be a rumor, but since Telefónica already has the iPhone in the UK and Ireland (through O2), it's very likely it comes to movistar (in Spain and some Latin American countries) and Vivo (its Brazilian joint venture with Portugal Telecom).
@dogtune: Yeah Vodafone NZ does have 3G, but no EDGE. It does also have GPRS (current iPhone can fall back to that), but that's just utter crap, and super $$$ (for some unknown reason).
If they don't have a 3G phone for NZ, then Apple's just shooting themselves in the foot.
Maybe Vodafone NZ has a secret EDGE network?
LASTLY!!! I think that the 3g version will come shortly after the release in us, because the provider is already available!! ;)
Here in SA two networks offers 3G and HSPDA. Personally I will hope to upgrade later this year to either samsungs F700 (3G/HSDPA and big touch screen) or the new Nokia that SAYS it will offer the same.
@aelver: Just like Vodafone NZ, Vodafone Portugal dropped EDGE some time ago when they pushed for 3G.
3G is everywhere here, EDGE would have to be brought back from the grave, and that seems bad business, so it's either a 3G iPhone here or a damn crippled iPhone working only on gprs
Actually, it just occured to me. This must be what they're doing with all the 16GB v1.0 iPhones that haven't sold in the current markets.
Maybe.
Missing the point. It's not a cellphone. It just happens to DO that. For many people it's the Internet (and soon access to a slew of applications, including MS Orifice) in your pocket. Buy a computer when you don't have a landline? Why?
This is the holy grail for many countries. The entire solution...and for that, it's cheap.
Apple's stock price is still low compared to where it's going to be in a year once all this matures...
The iPhone's gonna do well here in SA. Everyone will buy it simply cause it's a iPhone! And it won't be released on Vodaphone here, it's Vodacom not Vodaphone here haha. I wonder if it'll be the 3g iPhone. It'd be pretty funny if they brought it out here like every other phone before it came out there haha!
@Cookiefox: Ouch that's a little mean. Sorry for double post. But just Ouch!
@rudeadly:
@kosikutioner:
I don't get it. It looks like the reflection is congruent, though I guess it's not really a reflection...
i hate Brazil
Mexico?...they are losing a huge market here since here in the old Mexico everybody kind of loves apple products and ipods, of course i am not dying for it since i can do all what i need and want with my Razr 2 and my iPod Touch.
There's a couple of interesting points about this from an Australian perspective. First, it's illegal to lock a handset to a particular carrier and then charge to unlock it. All handsets that are locked can be unlocked for free.
Second, it may finally kick the big carriers into all-you-can-eat data plans which we've been hanging out for forever. The iPhone won't be much chop without cheap internet.
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