Telefonica announcing 3G iPhone, or 2G iPhone for Latin America, or nothing at MWC
We're all but certain that Apple wouldn't let a carrier run the show when the time comes to introduce the 3G iPhone to the world, but hey, we guess it could happen. After all, next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is pretty much the 800-pound gorilla of mobile trade shows, and we can't imagine Apple waiting until next Macworld to get it out the door. Two standing rumors tell slightly different stories about what exactly Telefonica plans on announcing at MWC: the first has Telefonica showing off the 3G iPhone and announcing that it'll exclusively carry it in Spain starting in July. The second, moderately more believable rumor says that Telefonica's Movistar unit will offer the plain ol' 2G iPhone in Spain almost immediately following a MWC announcement, with Latin American availability starting in May and phasing in over several months. Then again, Telefonica could announce that we're all idiots for believing any of this drivel, or they could just sit silently to themselves and announce absolutely nothing at all. We'll find out in a couple weeks.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Read - 3G iPhone?
Read - 2G iPhone?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Halex @ Jan 27th 2008 9:42AM
So... There are a bunch of unlocked iPhones roaming in Brazil, and it will be neat to see some official devices coming.
I fear for the price of the official thing, though, since everything regarding Apple is highly overpriced 'round here. (think about 50% more, the unlocked iPhone included!)
Carlos @ Jan 27th 2008 9:59AM
What about Puerto Rico???
There is no Telefonica in PR, We have AT&T and are part of the US. Also all of PR has coverage of 3G and 2G.
Kate @ Jan 27th 2008 11:42AM
This sucks.
PR is located on Latin America, but is part of the US.
This sucks.
Here in PR we can purchase every ATT phone, and every Apple product, but not the iPhone.
alanwestenbroek @ Jan 28th 2008 5:21AM
The 3G article is hardly coming from a rumor site. That's one of the biggest and most respected newspapers in the country, and they're not presenting anything as a rumor. They're announcing it as fact. They go on to say that it will be exclusive to Movistar in Spain and TIM in Italy, but sold without branding. It will be customized with a link of some kind to Movistar's lame emocin WAP portal, but specifically mentions that it won't have links to their music and ringtone shop, nor their music portal.
They're opening a new Apple store in Madrid during this same time frame, and Jobs will be here for both events.
alanwestenbroek @ Jan 28th 2008 11:47AM
...and another thing! The second rumor is likely not true, because Telefnica do not have an EDGE network in Spain. It's GPRS only and let me assure you that iPhone + 33.6kbps is NOT a good user experience.
Antonio Bustamante @ Feb 5th 2008 11:49PM
And there is a reason for not having EDGE in Spain: because it's old and outdated. From GPRS, Spain directly passed to 3.5G and HSDPA.
The existing outdated GPRS-compatible network in Spain is very easily adaptable to EDGE (primarily because there are very slight differences between the two of them).
Telefonica has been waiting for iPhone 3G, which is the reason of the delay. In a country where almost every single cellphone is already 3G or HSDPA, it would be nonsense to launch a product that works with old networks.