Finally, rumors have come to an end: The Apple iPhone will be distributed in Germany by T-Mobile at a price of 399 EUR including a contract from November 9th 2007. The crucial question about the iPhone rates at T-Mobile is still left open.
Steve Jobs traveled to Berlin personally to present the new gadget with Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermann.
From November 9th the iPhone will also be available in Great Britain and France. O2 (GB) will sell them for 269 GBP and Orange (FR) also for 399 EUR. In Great Britain the secret of the O2-iPhone rates was disclosed. O2 will charge a 35, 45 or 55 GBP per month rate for a data traffic flat rate an 200, 600 or 1,200 free minutes.
Accoding to FTD, the Deutsche Telekom is planning to sell one Million iPhones in the last quarter. That’s a quite remarkable number, especially because the missing UMTS support of the iPhone will probably may deter potential customers. Some probably will wait for the UMTS / 3G version of the iPhone which should be available next year. Also the market entry of the iPod-touch as a WiFi capable mobile Internet terminal at the end of this month will more likely lower the needs for iPhones than boost it.
For Apple as a company, for mobile application developers and for the endusers this isn’t bad news at all. Far from it: Because of the availability of a critical mass of standardized mobile web terminals (same screen-size, same usability, same web browser Safari 3) an innovative, viral and worldwide mobile business market may develop!
And this would also make the Deutsche Telekom happy, at the end 😉
Sources: O2.co.uk, Ftd-reuters Video , Ftd.de, Apple.com
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