Apparently the Enterprise Data Services Manager for Telefónica España, Francisco José Santos Esteras, spoke recently at PROCOM Aragón 2008 (a communications conference) in Spain and said that Telefonica Movistar (the mobile subsidiary) has a time-limited exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone. It's unclear how long the exclusivity lasts, but it is apparently limited to months (as opposed to years with AT&T here in the States). This move in Spain is consistent with rumors we posted on a while back, though it seems that Orange will also be offering the iPhone in Spain within a few months. It also seems likely the launch will coincide with the presumed release of the 3G iPhone next month.
[via Infinite Loop]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-20-2008 @ 10:41AM
Fidel said...
Siiii!!!!!!!!!!! Finally!!! :D
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5-20-2008 @ 11:05AM
Aloysius Snuffleupagus said...
The level of hype about this is kind of amazing. While it'll be nice to boost the slow-as-molasses Edge I can't quite understand what everyone is getting SO hyped up about. As far as I can tell GPS is still a rumor, so the only new functionality will be enhanced data speeds outside of WiFi. Definitely a welcome addition (I'm sure I'll upgrade eventually), but I'm afraid the people who are getting so worked up will be a little let down when they realize this is a small evolutionary step unlike the revolutionary introduction of the iPhone itself.
My 2¢. Feel free to attack me.
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5-20-2008 @ 11:42AM
Josh said...
No *** way!
Wish Vodafone or even Orange had decided to invest in Spain with the iPhone. But in a country with such a tendency towards building monopolies in everything, where competition seems to be discouraged from the government itself, having a single operator with the iPhone is just a consumer suicide.
I forecast the highest prices ever for the spanish iPhone, a tariff over the roof, with no minutes or sms included and with no data or little data traffic included (say.. probably 200mb a month, then 1 eur per mb).
Everything Telefónica does is a rip-off. Plain and simple.
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5-20-2008 @ 4:40PM
AlexPN said...
The number of mobile phone lines in Spain rose 7.3% in 2007 to a total of 50.2 million. At the end of the year, Spain had a mobile telephone penetration rate of 112%, or 112 lines per 100 people.
An early sold out!?
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