According to a post on fscklog (English translation here), Apple may use the Austrian market as the testing ground for a new 3G phone. T-Mobile Austria announced on Monday that a UMTS version of the iPhone will be available "...soon" with "more flexible" options. We assume that "more flexible options" refers to user plans.Last September, ZDNet Australia surmised that their country could be the first to receive a 3G iPhone, noting Apple's timetable for a battery capable of supporting a 3G phone ("...late 2008") and the iPhone's launch date in Asia Pacific. A good guess, but T-Mobile's announcement seems to shoot it down.
If any TUAW readers in Austria can shed some light on the speculation, please let us know.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-05-2008 @ 1:16PM
alberto mario pernett said...
Please clarify, are you really talking about Austria (in Europe) or Australia (Oceania)???
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5-05-2008 @ 1:23PM
blinkcowz182 said...
The article is from ZDNet Australia speculating that AUSTRIA could be the first 3G country. Confusing post, may need cleared up.
5-05-2008 @ 1:26PM
iamwatson said...
The announcement is by T-Mobile AUSTRIA which shoots down ZDNet Announcement from 09/2007 that AUSTRALIA will be the testing ground for 3g iPhone. Thus T-Mobile announcement shoot down ZDNET's previous announcement made in Sept of last year
5-05-2008 @ 1:25PM
boeselhack said...
the statement was corrected by an official t-mobile member in austria, read this: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fnewsticker%2FErst-8-000-iPhones-in-Oesterreich--%2Fmeldung%2F107420
so it only was "misunderstood" by the austrian website derstandard.at and it was kind of "pushed" for the media (http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3325657) to get traffic or so ...
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5-05-2008 @ 1:31PM
marco said...
Hi i'am from austria. the phone provider t-mobile said that austria is a good 3G test-field and they are waiting for an 3G iphone (because current iphone sales are not very good). several newsportal than posted that austria will be the testcountry for the 3G iphone. imho this rumor is not correct! p.s. sorry for my bad english :)
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5-05-2008 @ 1:35PM
fabs said...
Hi, i'm from Austria
The original source of this news is www.derstandard.at which is a very reliable newspaper in Austria. I think this news could in deed be true, because Austria is known as one of the leading "UMTS-Countries" in Europe.
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5-05-2008 @ 1:45PM
Chris Coleman said...
When was the last time Apple released a major new product to a market other than the U.S. first?
Think about this stuff before you give it any credence. These 3G iPhone rumors are just getting silly.
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5-05-2008 @ 1:58PM
mentalsticks said...
Maybe because 3G is far from ubiquitous in the US and everywhere in Western Europe... Knowing Apple they'll do anything to prevent the launch of a new product that doesn't work everywhere. It's like releasing a right hand driven car in the US.
Think about what you write before you write it.
5-05-2008 @ 10:03PM
table said...
...a 3G iPhone will work everywhere the current one does.
Thanks for playing. Please remember not to play-reverse someone's words if your rebuttal is that weak, lest you be forever immortalized on this webpage forever as the author of a pointed comment that missed.
5-05-2008 @ 2:27PM
PSM said...
I notice they mention UMTS. Does this mean that the iPhone may not be HSDPA-capable? In my limited understanding of 3G technologies, I know HSDPA is a version of UMTS, but if it really was higher-speed, wouldn't they say that? Or in Europe is it assumed to support HSDPA? All I'm saying is, if the iPhone only supports the lower-speed UMTS, I'm gonna be real disappointed in Apple.
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5-05-2008 @ 4:20PM
Gene Cowan said...
Um... "test country?"
As far as I know, Apple has never "tested" any product publicly. What a bunch of hooey. Total, complete nonsense.
Not only that, can anyone think of a single product, ever, that Apple released outside of America first? Not a one.
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5-05-2008 @ 4:56PM
Dan Parmelee said...
UMTS works in conjunction with HSDPA.
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5-05-2008 @ 5:10PM
maddin4791 said...
Well...i'm from Austria..but right now im in the U.S...and im happy that i got here cause i just got a MacBook Pro and my iPod touch about 7 months ago ;D
I personally don't think that they would test it in Austria. They don't even have an Apple Store over there (yes, they do have stores which sell some Apple stuff) and like other users said, since when does Apple publish something first somewhere else than the U.S.? Even if they would..i don't think that many people would buy an iPhone. I went to New York a few weeks ago...and damn! I've never seen soooo many iPhones!!!
Anyways...that's just my personal opinion. Of course, I wish thats true cause I'll go back at the end of June...would be the right timing ^^, right?
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5-05-2008 @ 5:10PM
glad said...
That's great for Austria but will you be able to get a signal in a basement built by one's crazy father!
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5-06-2008 @ 8:31AM
Denmaru said...
I'm from Austria, too, and I want to confirm these speculations. It makes perfectly sense to use austria as a testbe for 3G since we have 3G readily available. Several years ago, we had the first 3G only service provider (Hudchinson, known as "3" (read: "Drei", german for "three")) in Austria, and the network as now reached almost 100% coverage. I use their voice-, and datanetwork frequently, and I aussure you that I've had no drops whatsoever - even on the mountains in Tirol.
As soon as I can get my paws on an 3G iPhone or more infos, I'll be glad to report back.
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5-06-2008 @ 3:40PM
Daan said...
Why would Austria be a testing country.
First, I agree with the statement that Apple never has tested product publicly.
Second, why Austria. It's not that usage of UMTS data (instead of GPRS) is particilarly higher in Austia. Nothern counties like Netherlands, UK, Scandinavian countries have a much higher penetration of UMTS usage.
And what about all the gossips about Italy, Belgium etc. who will introduce a 3g iPhone soon, in june etc.?
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