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Palm Pre coming to Romania (and the rest of Europe) in September?

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 16th 2009 @ 2:22PM

It boggles the mind that Palm is still totally silent on the issue of global Pre availability; yes, granted, Apple employed similar foot-dragging following the original iPhone's launch, but the difference there was that Apple was under way, way less pressure from consumers and investors to immediately deliver a monster hit. We've heard rumblings as recently as late May that Telefonica has signed a deal to deliver the Pre on its various networks around the world, but since then, nothing -- and that's where some scrappy little distributor in Romania comes into play. A company called IRIS -- a smartphone distributor for years and Romania's authorized Apple outlet -- says that the Pre will be hitting shelves over there in September for something in the range of $550 unsubsidized, putting it right in range with what Sprint is charging off contract. Of course, by September, the Pre will be fighting a readily available iPhone 3G S and gobs of new Android sets, but webOS itself already proves that the new Palm knows how to work under pressure.

[Via GSMArena]

Orange lands broad iPhone distro deal too

by Thomas Ricker posted May 16th 2008 @ 4:14AM

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]

Germany: Give us back our $60.5 million, Nokia

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 6th 2008 @ 7:51AM

The German state of North-Rhine Westphalia wants its €41.3 million (about $60.5 million) back. The reason? Germany wants the corporate subsidies given to Nokia back in 1998 and 1999 for its plant in Bochum. The very plant Nokia is about to shut down at the cost of some 2,300 German jobs. Nokia responded to Germany's demand saying that it is "astonished" and "Based on the facts available to the company and Deutsche Bank, its advisor throughout the entire period, both parties feel strongly that such an attempt is without merit." Of course, Nokia won't hurt too badly if forced to pay out. Nokia's new Romanian plant is expected to cost just a tenth of the Bochum plant to operate. Nokia also posted a staggering $2.6 billion in profit from the last quarter alone. The German authorities know a cash cow when they see it.

Read -- Reuters' take
Read -- Nokia response in full