Appletell

After sealing a distribution agreement with Asian telecom company Singtel and Swisscom of Switzerland, Apple has sealed another distribution agreement for the iPhone, this time with Orange, the exclusive provider of the iPhones in France. Interestingly, whereas it was not indicated whether the iPhones to be distributed in the Asian market is the 3G model or the non-3G ones, for Orange it was clearly stated that the 3G iPhones will be the models to be sold in the European countries. The agreement between Orange and Apple will expand to other European countries, the Middle Easy and some parts of Africa.

The two companies have also agreed that Orange shall be the sole distributor of iPhones in Belgium and Romania, while for other European countries including the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and as well as in some African markets, Orange will either have co-exclusive or non-exclusive deals with other local telecommunications companies. This is in addition to other distribution deals that Apple has agreed upon with America Mobil for the iPhone’s distribution to Latin America and Vodafone for Australia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

Meanwhile in Italy, Telecom Italia mobile has snagged the distribution of the iPhone to the Italian market and Rogers has it in Canada.

Via [Apple Insider]

It looks like the grey market for the iPhone is getting widespread as observed by a study of cellphone advertiser Admob. Admob noticed that the iPhone has managed to move up to the top 20 devices which received quite a number of ad request to Admob. The company has also managed to serve most of these requests coming from Germany and the US, where the iPhone was already released officially. Interestingly though, Admob has noted that many of the requests it received are coming from other countries where the iPhone was not yet officially available. These countries include Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and the Netherlands and especially Hong Kong which ranked high in terms of iPhone advertising.

Hence, it is but logical that the iPhones were indeed being marketed in the gray markets of those countries. And if there’s anything that these data show, is the fact that those iPhone units are being exported by individuals “illegally” from either the U.S. or Germany.

Nonetheless, it is not to say that iPhone is not aware about this. This might even be one of the driving factor as to why Apple has been aggresively coordinating with telcom carriers internationally to distribute the iPhone worldwide. Interestingly again, the two countries which have widespread “unofficial” availability of the iPhone, have not even started negotiating with Apple regarding the official distribution of the iPhone in their respective countries. These are China and Russia, which both have large shares in the gray market for iPhones.

Via [MacNN] Via [AdMob]

A new patent from Apple this week could greatly help in expanding what an iPhone can do for you.  This patent expounds upon the service that allows Starbucks customers to purchase coffees from their phone and is extremely interesting.  Basically, this patent implies that Apple would have services like this in businesses and various locations all over the world.  For example, an airport could show flight schedules right on your phone or you could save your dining preferences and wirelessly order with a digital menu at any restaurant involved with it.  Even better yet, if a concert used this you could be able to buy the bands tracks wirelessly right then and there.  It would work by connecting to a local wifi network that contained specific instructions on how to handle wireless devices that connect and are made by Apple.

This whole idea is actually pretty fascinating and I can see it becoming popular sometime in the future.  People carry their wireless devices everywhere and if Apple manages to get more of a market share or this extends to all wireless devices someday, it could become extremely handy.  Imagine simply walking into a restaurant and pulling out your phone to check the menu or being greeted with a tourist map when arriving in a new city.  If Apple ever does put this into effect some way or another, I can really see it taking off.

Apple isn’t the only one preparing for the launch of the 3G iPhone, AT&T is also undertaking some steps of it’s own.  The first of these actions came from a memo that AppleInsider got a hold of.  According to the memo, starting on May 14th AT&T customers will only be able to purchase one iPhone at a time which is down from the limit of three that was originally in place.  Furthermore, there will have to purchase the device with a credit or debit card, ruling out cash or checks.  This is most likely to assure that they have some stock left until the 3G version is launched.

The second step is probably the bigger of the two.  On Wednesday, AT&T said it plans on having its 3G wireless network up to speeds of 20 megabits per second by 2009.  AT&T’s mobility leader, Ralph de la Vega, says, “It’s clear to us that we are in the very early stages of what I would call a wireless data revolution.” Better yet, he adds that this upgrade will hopefully not require as many hardware modifications as usual in these sorts of updates.

Its clear that AT&T realizes they really need to improve their network in preparation for the iPhone and other new devices such as the Blackberry 9000.  If they want to stop people from jailbreaking their iPhones and simply using another carrier, they need to give them a reason to stay.  This would be the first step in that direction.

In a report released Thursday, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann announced that iPhone sales in Germany have reached and passed 100,000 units.  With exclusive rights to the German iPhone, Deutsche Telekom saw sluggish sales through January, but sales looked up after that.  Sales saw an even bigger jump when the company announced a gigantic €300 (over $460!) discount on the 16 GB iPhone until June 30. 

Hamid Akhavan, Deutsche Telekom’s board member at T-Mobile, told Dow Jones Newswires earlier on the sidelines of a corporate event that the sales figures for the iPhone are “about in line” with the company’s internal targets. Akhavan also said that the current price reduction of the device had boosted sales.

Only question is, what does Apple think about the discount?  If Apple took legal action on a UK iPod seller from offering a ₤15 ($30) iPod discount, there is no saying what action Apple will take against the German iPhone purveyor.

[Telekom Europe] Via [CNN Money]

Now that both U.S. and U.K. online stores have reported depleting stocks of brand new units of the iPhone, here’s you’re chance to snag one for yourself if you haven’t done so, or if you don’t want to wait for the rumored 3G iPhone. AT&T has started offering refurbished units of the 16GB iPhone for a reduced price of $349. This is in addition to the already available stocks of the 8GB models which are priced at $249.

Sadly though, you can’t stock up more than one unit of those iPhone’s as AT&T allows only one unit per customer, per household. But you get to enjoy the 1-year warranty that AT&T offers for new models of the iPhones, though. The 16GB iPhone package comes with a 2-year plan and AT&T won’t charge you for shipping, should you decide to order online.

Via [Ars Technica] Product [AT&T]

Fueled by the recent snowballing of Mac sales and interest in the iPhone’s mobile WiFi platform, this year’s Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) has sold out for the first time in history.  The exact number of spaces that were available was not put out by Apple, but soon after making the “sold out” announcement, they released the following statement. 

“Response to this year’s WWDC has been off the charts and we are delighted with the show of enthusiasm and support from the developer community for the new iPhone SDK. The conference is now sold out.”

There are many speculations as to what will happen at WWDC ‘08, ranging from 3G iPhones to Tablet Macs (the latter taken with quite a sizable grain of salt).  Based on past WWDC history, chances are slim that any new computer designs will be introduced, as those larger announcement are usually saved for MacWorld (small design updates for the Mac line up are more of a possibility).

Luckily for those who didn’t snag a seat at the conference, videos of the session will be on iTunes shortly after for purchase.

Read [Mac Megatsite]

Telefónica Europe’s Chairman and CEO, Matthew Key, made a pretty important comment the other day (Telefónica Europe is O2’s parent company).  During a conference about their 1st quarter earnings, Key said that executives from his company and some Apple execs would be announcing the 3G iPhone - get this - within weeks!  This is the first time we have actually heard confirmation of the 3G iPhone from anyone in the know.  Key refused to give an exact place, but stuck to his word that it would be in the “coming weeks”.  He also confirmed that the UK and Ireland will be getting the power of 3G soon after.

With iPhone sales headed skyward world wide, the 3G iPhone can only pump those numbers higher.

Read [http://www.9to5mac.com/02_iphone_in_weeks]

iPhone application developer Intelliborn has just released a new killer application for the iPhone called the IntelliScreen. This new application compiles weather, e-mail, SMS message, RSS feeds, news, sports and wheather widgets and displays them to your iPhone’s “Slide to Unlock Screen.”

The application allows for the display of four widgets at the same time and you can easily switch reading from one widget to another in a jiffy. 

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On the heals of the iPhone’s geographic expansion in Europe, the iPhone is making it’s official entrance into Asia.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) will bring the iPhone to Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines later this year (read, iPhone 2 with 3G speeds).

This is probably the only way to curb the massive knockoff problem that is currently going on in Asia. Further, a 2.5G iPhone is of no or little interest to countries and carriers with 3G networks.