As 3G iPhone Launch Nears, Apple Strikes Worldwide Deals
May 11, 2008
Most analysts have predicted a June introduction of a 3G iPhone, probably at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which runs June 9-13 in San Francisco. CEO Steve Jobs is expected to open WWDC with his usual keynote address and will likely unveil a new iPhone then.
Some analysts have speculated that another possible launch of 3G iPhone is June 29, the iPhone’s first sales anniversary, but that date now seems unlikely considering reported supply shortages of iPhones. O2 has ‘temporarily ‘ run out of 8GB and 16GB iPhones in the U.K., and a quick search of the Apple website shows that the first-generation 8/16GB iPhone is also ‘currently unavailable’ in the US as well.
Apple has so far sold 5.4 million iPhones worldwide, based on data as of the end of Apple’s fiscal second quarter, which ended in March. Apple has a goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year.
Recently, the U.K.-based Vodafone Group and Telecom Italia SpA signed separate deals with Apple Inc to sell the iPhone in Italy. This was the first time that Apple signed non-exclusive iPhone deals. In the past, Apple only signed exclusive agreements with a single mobile service provider in each market it entered. In the U.S. the only authorized network is AT&T, while in the U.K. and Germany it’s O2 and T-Mobile, while in France, on the other hand, Orange holds the exclusive rights to sell the iPhone.
Vodafone Group will roll out iPhone in 10 markets this year, and they are: Australia, India, Italy, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.
In the past couple of weeks, Apple has also signed deals with Rogers Communications Inc to launch the device later this year. A high-speed 3G iPhone is likely to encourage iPhone users to download more data - and there are likely to be some cost implications for Canadian customers.
However, it seems that Austria will be the first one to get the iPhone. An Austrian national daily Der Standard, posted a story to its German-language Web site quoting T-Mobile saying a 3G iPhone would be available “soon” and that the Austria would be one the first markets to see the new Apple smart phone. The newspaper also quoted T-Mobile spokesman Hendrik Kasteel as saying that the mobile provider would debut “more flexible” service plans when the 3G iPhone is launched. In Austria, T-Mobile prices the iPhone at €399 ($615 U.S.) for the 8GB model and €499 ($770 U.S.) for the 16GB device.
In another step in the worldwide march of Apple Inc’s iPhone, the top mobile phone operator in Latin America signed a deal to bring the multimedia gadget to more than a dozen countries starting later this year. America Movil SAB, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, said it plans to bring the iPhone to all of its Latin American operations. The company boasts 159.2 million subscribers in 16 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
Many consumers in countries where Apple has not struck iPhone deals with mobile operators are using “unlocked” iPhones already. They have been modified to work over any cellular network, signaling a growing worldwide demand for Apple’s hottest multimedia gadget.
The BoyGenius memo seems to be about last year’s launch, not the one coming up.
Thank you Mike for pointing that out and please accept our apologies. We’re not perfect, and when mistakes happen we are happy to have people like you to correct us. Yes, you are correct, the sentence was supposed to refer to the last year memo. We have removed that sentence altogether to avoid confusion. All the best. :)