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UK will get a 3G iPhone, with Vodafone, T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse Partnership
Guy J Keweny of Newswireless.net has revealed details of the new partnership between, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse, which will see the UK getting a 3G version of the iPhone.
Mr Keweny does seem to slam the iPhone in his article, with no foundation for his comments, all reports and reviews of the iPhone that I have read so far all seem to be positive, with the iPhone tipped to be Apple’s next revolutionary device.
Here are the full details
‘A new 3G (European) version of the iPhone will be launched Monday in the UK by Apple - in a join promotion with Vodafone, T-Mobile of Germany, and Carphone Warehouse. It should answer the disappointment with the US version of the iPhone which has been widely slammed for its poor performance as a phone.
Hints of the European launch emerged yesterday when Bill Condie of the London Evening Standard tipped Vodafone to be the official carrier, which will be confirmed Monday. But Voda is just part of the picture, with Apple going for a three-pronged European strategy with carriers - again, responding to disappointment in America with the exclusive deal with AT&T/Cingular.
Shipment date is still unknown, but “on course” for the year-end date predicted last October by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Vodafone is currently in an ideal position to take on the iPhone, because its 3G network is hugely under-utilised. Pricing on mobile data is normally prohibitive, but Vodafone has recently revised its 3G data charges down, following “rip-off” complaints from users.
It may even be possible that European data prices will match, or be an improvement on the eye-watering charges announced by AT&T in North America.
The iPhone requires a high speed Internet connection to function properly, both because of its excellent Internet browsing capacity, and also because of its requirement for high quality video, which limits the appeal of the US version.
Writer Condie quoted sources inside Credit Suisse which suggested that France Telecom was in line for a franchise. That is unlikely to be fulfilled, possibly because of Orange’s insistence on “strong branding” on any handset it carries. Orange has irritated several phone makers by insisting on disabling technical and user-oriented features which didn’t sit with Orange commercial policy.
The appointment of Carphone Warehouse as a virtual network carrier will be a big surprise, however.
T-Mobile CEO Rene Oberman was reported to be “ecstatic” at getting a joint contract, according to insiders. He’s expected to be present at the Apple party Monday when the new device is unveiled.
The American version, using only 2G phone technology, goes on sale today. Queues have been forming outside Apple (and other) retail outlets in New York since Tuesday this week.‘
I have just spoken to the press offices of Vodafone, Carphonewarehouse, and T-Mobile, and guess what, all three of them remained tight lipped with the standard ‘No Comment’ response.
Whether we get a 3G or a 2G iPhone here in the UK, I am not really bothered, the fact that we may finally know which carrier is getting it is enough for me.
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16 Responses to “UK will get a 3G iPhone, with Vodafone, T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse Partnership”
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I believe this is fake…if you read this it seems to slam the iPhone more than it does talk about it coming to the UK/Europe…Every paragraph seems to have some misquoted overstatement on “performance issues” or “requirements” that look to tarnish the appeal of the device.
I personally dont agree with the comments about the iPhone in the original article that I linked to, he does tend to slam the iPhone with no foundation for his comments, but i had to include his article as it was the source of the information, about the partnership between Vodafone, T-Mobile and CarephoneWarehouse.
FAKE!! What utter BS!
“Orange has irritated several phone makers by insisting on disabling technical and user-oriented features which didn’t sit with Orange commercial policy.” - and so has Vodaphone so what has that got to do with anything!?!?!?
Taomyn, Vodafone don’t really go overboard with anything they put on their phones. I have a Vodafone N93 and they set the Vodafone site up as the homepage and installed a few access points and that was it. Orange insist on having their brand logo on the facia (which kinda knocks the minimalist style) as well as totally changing the home screen on a lot of their phones. They don’t just change the look or put their own icon on there, they actually change how the whole thing operates. Google “Orange Home Screen”.
However though, I’ll believe this article come Monday should the predictions of an announcement turn out to be true.
Vodafone owns 50% of Verizon Wireless, which rejected the terms of the iPhone deal before AT&T got a shot. I think that’s interesting.
Thanks to the guys over at MacRumors.com for the link to the article.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/06/29/3g-iphone-for-uk-customers/
For Europe apart from a good design a couple of features are essential IMO….
1)3G
2)3mp camera at least
3)gps
On top of that, none of the obligatory data bs packs and other obligatory shit
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I am on a Vodafone (UK) contract and my SE K800i has a a Vodafone logo inset into the case under the screen (along with Vodafone Live menu, screensaver etc in software) as have all my previous SE phones from Vodafone.
Also they require J2ME apps to be signed before they can automaticaly access memmory cards (if unsigned the phone asks you for every single read/write authorisation which sucks for making map downloading / caching apps).
Still can’t complain when you get a £250+ phone for 20 quid.
I just hope Apple have negotiated to not have branding on the iPhone - but then so much of what Apple is about is style that i think they would be able to tell Vodafone etc to get lost if they asked for a badge on it!
Mr Kewney’s site has previously posted unfounded rumours as fact, such as the sale of 3 to China Mobile (http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3075), so I’d take this with a pinch of salt.
That said, Voda and T-Mobile split over specific territories in Europe doesn’t sound so odd. Orange was always unlikely due to branding issues (comparing Apples and Oranges, anyone?) and I expect O2 was out of the frame after the charade that was the ROKR. 3 would be a good fit for supporting the device with the better UK network coverage and, being smaller, may be prepared to sacrifice some of their own branding more easily than the bigger operators.
And if Carphone Warehouse actually are involved it’s most likely to be in terms of them having a period of exclusivity as a 3rd party for selling the device in their stores (like the Nokia 8800 Luna right now).
I’ll be delighted if I can get it on T-Mobile in the UK. I’d prefer O2, but T-Mobile’s fine too. I’d rather not Vodafone, but I already own an Vodafone device (Pay as you Go though) and I’ll use them if I have too. I’m also hoping Carphone Warehouse might get to offer the iPhone on their virtual networks. But whatever. Waiting for Monday
This must be fake.
I don´t believe that just 3 days after launching the phone in US they would launch a 3G version in europe especially when a lot of people in the US are complainibg that Iphone is’nt 3G.
[…] week I reported on a story by Newswireless.net about the upcoming partnership between Apple, Vodafone, T-Mobile […]
T-Mobile Germany just got the gig there. The phones will have to be 3G, there’s no way a non-3G phone would fly in the European market. And with that many carriers, the odds of them being fully unlockable are going up quickly. Read more!