We'll make this brief. Orange spokesperson Therese Wenger told the SDA news agency that it has secured rights to release the iPhone (3G version, presumably) in Switzerland and more than 10 other countries -- take that Swisscom! Other countries include Austria, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, and Romania. And France of course where it's already on sale. See, that was quick and leaves room for a dozen or so other iPhone related announcements today.

Update: Official Orange press release now out.

[Via 20minuten, thanks Pascal M. and Pae]

derStandard, the same publication that announced that the iPhone would be sailing into Austria via T-Mobile is now reporting that the same carrier will be testing the 3G iPhone in the aforesaid country. During a press conference in Vienna, T-Mo Austria reportedly affirmed that a UMTS version of Apple's handset would "soon be available," and that Austria would be the "testing ground" for the new mobile -- not to mention "among the first countries in the world with the UMTS iPhone." Furthermore, bigwigs stated that "more flexible" offers would be made available, but details beyond that were scant.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Bitter party rivals in the world's political arenas are always looking for dirt to sling on their opponents, but this is a pretty novel one. Austria's BZÖ is calling for an investigation into chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer's use of an iPhone captured on camera at an EU summit a full frickin' day ahead of its official Austrian release. It looks like the questions center around whether the phone was unlocked; if it was unlocked then whether it was legal or moral to do so; if it wasn't unlocked whether Gusenbauer was getting special treatment; and above all, whether the government footed the bill (he says it was a birthday gift, but yeah, we've heard that line before). Must be nice to live somewhere where this is one of the bigger political rows going on, eh?

[Thanks, Daniel F.]

As we expected, Apple just loosed the iPhone into Ireland and Austria. €399 nabs the 8GB model while €499 takes the 16GB unit home. T-Mobile has the honors for Austria as it does in Germany while O2 carries the flag in Ireland as it does in the UK. Interestingly, Irish subscribers are not entitled to Visual Voicemail or free WiFi even though they are offered by O2 UK -- neither country offers an unlimited data plan. Tsk tsk. Regardless, early adopters from those countries already had their unlocked iPhones months ago which makes the launch just a formality at this point.

[Via MacRumors]

Read -- Austria
Read -- Ireland

'Bout time we got some fresh European iPhone launches under our belts, and it looks like we might finally know where they're going down. Italian site Macitynet tore down the 1.1.4 update, only to discover packages indicating that support for T-Mobile's Austrian and O2's Irish networks are in the cards. We now know the Irish launch is legit, and the Austrian move would make total sense considering that T-Mobile's got the iPhone locked up in Germany. Only question, we guess, is when it's going to get official.

[Via Macworld UK, thanks Conan]

We're hearing rumblings that everybody's favorite iPhone is wandering to Austria -- no, not Australia -- and T-Mobile in the very near future. No other details right now, but we won't let you down, check back soon for more.

Although providers around the globe have been doing away with those pesky roaming charges for some time now, not everyone has the luxury of yapping anywhere without a care in the world, but at least those loyal 3 customers out there can now. The newly-unveiled "3 Like Home" plan allows 3 customers to travel abroad and not face roaming charges when dialing out or receiving a call in a nation that 3 covers, which includes Hong Kong, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, the UK, Austria, Denmark, and Italy. Furthermore, SMS, video calling, and data services will be filed under the same principle, meaning no roaming fees altogether when using your mobile in a coverage area. Notably, the company states that users will still "face higher charges if they roam onto a non-3 network," but hopes that "the European Commission will be successful in reducing these wholesale charges, which will allow price reductions for customers roaming between different operators within Europe." We wonder if they can take a hint?

[Via MobileBurn]