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movistar posts

Palm Pre official on O2 and Movistar in Europe, launch "in time for holidays"

by Thomas Ricker posted Jul 7th 2009 @ 4:01AM

It's official, Palm just kicked out a press release saying that the UK, Ireland, and Germany will have access to the Palm Pre exclusively on O2 while Spain's Pre will be offered exclusively on Movistar -- so it's all Telefonica, all the time. Unfortunately, launch timing was only narrowed down to "in time for the holidays" which is just another way of repeating Palm's European-launch mantra of before the end of the year. Palm also doesn't provide any prices and chose not to list the radio frequencies for the HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM version of the Pre. See the 1,260 word press release posted after the break that says almost nothing.

Update: Seems as if O2 Germany has word that it'll be launching the GSM Pre in October.

Update 2: Hmm, seems as if O2 Germany has swapped out banners to show "Fall" availability. Make up your mind, won't you?

Continue reading Palm Pre official on O2 and Movistar in Europe, launch "in time for holidays"

GSM Palm Pre makes exclusive first appearance on Movistar

by Thomas Ricker posted Jul 7th 2009 @ 3:25AM

There it is, the first official press shot (see that HSDPA icon?) of the GSM version of the Palm Pre. The "more information" link isn't working at the moment but it's clear that Movistar has exclusive rights to the Pre in Spain. Of course, Movistar, like O2 in the UK, is owned by Telefonica which so far seems to have clinched exclusivity throughout Europe. We're still waiting for all this to get officially official sometime this week, if not today.

[Thanks, Enzo]

Toshiba TG01 now available on Movistar in Spain

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 23rd 2009 @ 9:24AM

If you're in... say, Spain, we can understand how you might perceive Japan as being a bit far to go just to put your hands on Toshiba's T-01A Snapdragon powerhouse. Then again, it is the first Snapdragon handset to hit the market -- and it's an absolutely stunning-looking phone -- so we certainly wouldn't blame you for packing your belongings, children, and pets into wooden crates, shipping them via freighter, and hopping the next flight to Tokyo. The good news, though, is that you won't have to: Movistar has now launched the phone locally in its global TG01 flavor, offering 7.2Mbps down, 2Mbps up, a flippin' 4.1-inch wide VGA display, and very likely the snappiest Windows Mobile experience you've ever had. The best part is that you can get it for free depending on your contract and plan pricing, so seriously, what's holding you (other than the fact that you might not be in Spain)?

All Telefonica markets to be rebranded as Movistar

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 13th 2009 @ 12:28PM

Movistar is already Telefonica's mobile brand around the world, but the Telefonica name lives on for some of the company's other services like wireline -- for now, anyhow. At a recent directors' meeting in Madrid, Telefonica announced that all of its services around the world would be rebranded as Movistar, both mobile and otherwise; only O2 will survive the consolidation in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia along with the Vivo brand in Brazil. If you're getting all teary-eyed about the change, take solace in the knowledge that Telefonica will live on as the corporate parent of the whole mess -- just don't expect to be picking up a Telefonica payphone in Spain anymore.

Telefonica scores global Pre coup?

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 11th 2009 @ 5:46PM

Carriers and Palm have been absolutely silent on the matter, but let's be honest: there's very likely been one of the most heated, no-holds-barred wars over the past few months to score European exclusivity on the Pre since the Storm and the iPhone -- and with launches broadly expected by mid-year, time is running out to secure a deal. Spanish media is reporting that Telefonica has now locked up that deal, not just for Spain and the UK (where it operates as O2) but for Latin America as well under the Movistar brand. If true, that'd be a nice, big "screw you" to archrival Vodafone, which has the mighty Storm / Magic two-pack under its belt. Even more interesting, though, is the fact that most of Latin America operates 3G on the 850 and 1900MHz bands -- the very same used in the US and Canada -- which means that our assumptions that the Pre would be 2100-only may have been wrong all along. Awesomely wrong. We wouldn't get our hopes up that the Pre will be a walk in the park to unlock and use on AT&T or Rogers just yet, but it's a glimmer of hope that we'll gladly take.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

LG KC910 Renoir gets closely inspected, is clearly photogenic

by Darren Murph posted Oct 23rd 2008 @ 2:44PM

Oh sure, you've seen LG's KC910 (or Renoir, if you prefer) out in the wild before, but our kid brothers and sisters over at Engadget Spanish were able to get up close and personal with the 8-megapixel handset during its formal introduction in Spain. Specs wise, there's nothing to discuss that you aren't already familiar with, but if you just can't get enough imagery of the fanciful device, you can gorge some more by hitting the read link.

BlackBerry Bold now available -- in Chile

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 4th 2008 @ 7:54PM

Movistar's Chilean outpost has now become -- somewhat surprisingly, may we add -- the very first carrier in the world to launch the BlackBerry Bold and put it into subscribers' hands. The carrier's making sure everyone knows what a coup they've managed to pull off, too, proudly proclaiming "FIRST ONES IN THE WORLD" with a red banner draped across the Bold's image on Movistar's site. Pricing seems a little high at 299,990 Chilean pesos (about $588) on a two-year contract, but hey, you've gotta pay to play; just how badly do you want to be one of the first people on the face of the planet (John Mayer notably excepted) to put this thing to use?

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Movistar nabs iPhone in Spain

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 2nd 2008 @ 1:01AM

Apple's relentless quest to spread the iPhone to every corner of the universe has officially nabbed yet another carrier. Movistar has been announced as an official partner for Spain, though no clues have been given about the launch date -- a common trend with the iPhone carrier partnership press releases as of late, we've noticed -- and the best that interested parties can do right now is sign up to be notified when more information becomes available. Any suckers out there want to bet us that they'll be launching the EDGE model? No?

[Via Engadget Spanish and AppleWeblog]

Blue Palm Centro in the mix, but not in the US

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 4th 2008 @ 5:08PM

Seems a little bizarre that AT&T would choose to launch white and lime over this more conservative choice -- but they did, and our Mexican friends get to reap the benefits. The blue variant of the GSM Centro is available via Telcel and Movistar -- exclusivity's apparently not an issue here -- and offers specs that are otherwise unchanged from its international cousins. Eh, on second thought, we think we like the white better anyway.

[Via IntoMobile and Palm Infocenter]

Ecuador pushes carriers toward socialization

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 25th 2007 @ 5:29PM

Stung with apparently widespread, systematic technical problems on its cell networks, Ecuador's taking measures to clamp down on a pair of foreign firms that together control some 96 percent of the nation's market. Porta -- a unit of Mexico's America Movil -- and Telefonica's Movistar have been told that they've got a couple choices: either allow the government to snap up more control over the airwaves, improve reliability, and lower costs to consumers, or scram. Both carriers are due for renegotiation on their contracts, giving the government gobs of leverage. What's more, Porta's under official investigation for its service failures (for which it's facing sanctions) and has to have its network in tip-top shape by next month, so it's all just a little hairy at the moment. Officials are pressing the carriers to contribute one percent of their revenue to a fund set up to provide service to Ecuador's poor; we're certainly not professional negotiators here, but if we were Porta or Movistar right now, we might go ahead and agree to make that happen if we wanted to stick around.