Appletell

A German court has issued an injunction banning that country’s iPhone users from downloading a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) called Sipgate onto their iPhones. The program allows users to make phone calls using a wireless internet connection, rather than using a cell phone connection (and paying carrier T-mobile in order to do so).

Their reasoning is interesting:

The core point of the argument was that in order to use Sipgate the iPhoner would have to jailbreak their Apple iPhone handset and thus breach the contract with T-Mobile.

The court apparently agreed with that argument.

MORE »

T-Mobile announced today the prices at which the Apple iPhone 3G will sell at Germany’s leading mobile operators. “We look forward to the iPhone 3G at attractive prices to be able to offer and are confident that even more people for getting excited about the iPhone,“ said Philipp Humm, CEO and Director of Sales at T-Mobile Deutschland, in what’s hopefully just a bad Google translation of T-Mobile’s German website. “With the faster UMTS Connectivity of 3G iPhone will facilitate the distribution of the mobile Internet forward,“ Humm kind of said.

In conjunction with the most popular fare, Complete M, the 8GB iPhone 3G will sell for 59.95 euros, but will cost only 1.00 euro in the two largest rate plans: L and XL. In the Complete Beginners S plan, the iPhone 3G will cost 169.95 euros. The contract period is 24 months each.

There’s more at the site, but I’m not having any lucky reading the translated German. Just check out the chart, which lays it all out in a concise manner. Bad translation or not, it’s quite clear our German friends are getting much better options when it comes to picking an iPhone rate plan.

Via [T-Mobile.de]

• Swedish iPhone users get MMS, what about everyone else?
• Wrap your iPhone in bacon
• Walmart will sell iPhone, just not for the holidays

At WWDC last week, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, announced that the 8GB model of the new iPhone 3G will sell for a maximum of $199* across the world in any carrier. What pricing did each carrier choose? AT&T maxed out and will be selling it at $199. Outside of the States, some carriers will be offering it at the bare minimum or close to nothing (with a calling plan). In Germany, T-Mobile will sell the iPhone for only 1 euro to the customers who select the top plan. Another carrier, O2, who carriers the phone 3G in the U.K., announced the iPhone will be free for all customers who sign up for one of the top plans.

So, let’s do some math; an iPhone with AT&T would cost $199 for the phone and $69.99 a month for a two year contract, for a total of $1,878.76. An iPhone with a two year contract on T-Mobile in Germany would be a whoping $3,265.54 02, and the UK has a pretty good price of $2,107.44, only 12% more than AT&T’s plan.

By reading the first paragraph, you’re hooked onto getting a phone with T-Mobile. A euro for an iPhone? Come on, why not? Then, it’s $136 a month with T-Mobile… and $87.81 a month with O2. European carriers know what they’re doing.

* Prices in USD

[Via Apple 2.0]

• Swedish iPhone users get MMS, what about everyone else?
• Quirky and unusual iPhone complaints
• Snow white Android G1 phone delayed?

T-Mobile, AT&T, and Starbucks have officially come to an agreement over the free Wi-Fi in Starbucks stores debate. This comes almost right after a lawsuit from T-Mobile last week that accuses both AT&T and Starbucks of exploiting T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi network for their advantage. If you’ll remember, AT&T has some problems with their Wi-Fi roll out after a false debut, but they were still strongly promoting it for iPhone users. Although Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum did not give any details about the agreement, she said, “T-Mobile, AT&T and Starbucks have entered into a memorandum of understanding to resolve their disputes and are committed to providing a high quality Wi-Fi experience for customers.“

Good. This is a great deal on Apple’s and Starbuck’s part, and free Wi-Fi at hundreds of Starbucks is going to be a great draw for iPhone users. Apple will benefit from selling more devices because customers want free Wi-FI on the go, and Starbucks will sell more coffee. It’s good to see they have finally reached an agreement that didn’t turn into a large PR-destroying lawsuit for any of the companies involved.

Via [Reuters]

• BlackBerry Curve 8900 simulator now available
• Snow white Android G1 phone delayed?
• Go gold with the Starbucks Gold Card, get 2 hours free Wi-Fi daily

Prepare yourself austrians, it seems you may be getting a taste of the iPhone in the not-so-distant future. T-Mobile chief executive, Hamid Akhavan, reported this information last Tuesday. T-Mobile is already selling the device in Germany and soon in Austria. In other launches the information about plans has been leaked before hand, but there is no word yet on what kind of data/minutes/txt messages and pricing to expect, though we think it will be similar to Germany’s plans.

This is great news for Austria, but for me, in Canada I can only wait and watch all the rumors. Canada is among other countries waiting on the iPhone, including Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Japan.

Via [Reuters]

• Cube debuts on the App Store for free
• Walmart will sell iPhone, just not for the holidays
• Ocarina Wars: A challenger appears!

On Saturday, Deutsche Telekom, or T-Mobile Germany, said that they have activated 70 000 iPhones in the first 11 weeks. They originally launched the iPhone in Germany and in the UK on November 9th, 2007. While O2, the UK iPhone carrier, has activated 190 000 phones in the first 2 months, and Orange, the iPhone carrier in France, has reported 70 000 phone sold in the first month, Deutsche Telekom remains confident in the iPhone. The head of T-Mobile Germany, Philipp Hum, said that “the iPhone is by far the most sold multimedia device in T-Mobile’s portfolio.“ Many attribute this slowing in sales to the fact that customers are waiting for the 3G iPhone promised to be coming in 2008.

Via [Looprumors]

• Walmart will sell iPhone, just not for the holidays
• Ocarina Wars: A challenger appears!
• Cube debuts on the App Store for free

The Rheinisch Post, a daily German newspaper, is expected to report tomorrow that the T-Mobile unit of Deutshe Telekom has secured a carrier contract with Apple to bring the iPhone to Germany. The exclusive contract is to bring the mobile overseas for 450 euros ($612 US) in November. As Reuters mentions, others carriers rumoured to be bringing the phone to the rest of Europe include Vodafone in Britain, France Telecom in (duh) France, and Telefonica in Spain.

Read [Reuters] via [Engadget]

• Apple Releases Apple TV 2.3, couple nice new features
• Apple rated #1 in customer satisfaction in recent survey
• Walmart will sell iPhone, just not for the holidays