Apple Waiting For 3G iPhone Before Spain, Italy?
Why wait? Because Spain and Italy have higher uptake of 3G phones than the U.K., France, and Germany. So in Spain and Italy, Apple's current iPhone, which uses a much slower, "EDGE" network for mobile Internet access, might not be as big a hit.
In Spain, 33.4% of the 33.5 million wireless subscribers have 3G phones, according to research firm M:Metrics. In Italy, 36.3% of its 46.4 million wireless subs have 3G devices. That's way more than the other iPhone countries: France (15.4% of 45.5 million subs), Germany (20.1% of 48.5 million subs), the U.K. (24.3% of 46.5 million subs), and the U.S. (24.8% of 219 million subs).
When will Apple (AAPL) start selling the 3G iPhone? Our guess is in June, when Apple plans to roll out the "iPhone 2.0" software update, which adds business-friendly features and official third-party software apps. That would be a good time to update the phone's hardware features and launch some new countries -- all of which will help the company reach its goal of selling 10 million iPhones this year.
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Worst case would be,the customers stops buying the 1.0-Version and wait for the 3G iPhone.We will see.
3G has nothing to do with anything.
Millions of people could have 3G phones --- but if they don't spend the money on 3G services, then it doesn't matter.
It is interesting to see the US having higher 3G mobile phone penetration than the big 3 European countries.
If there is a 3G phone, it will be interesting to see what effects it has on battery life.
Its is certainly not nobler in my mind to suffer the swings and harrows of outrageously slow (by comparison) downloads of EDGE vs 3G.
The Asian market is also 3G focussed and Apple will want to launch there too, sooner rather than later. Additionally, we know that Broadcom has developed 45nm lower power chips and Broadcom already supply Apple with chips for other devices. Regarding the FCC approval; - Apple doesn't necessarily need it to launch in other countries do they?
Look at the clues, the power consumption issue has been addresses, the market potential of the rest of the world way exceeds that of the sum total of USA, Apple purchasers DO upgrade to the next generation devices quite quickly (I have had 4 iPods in as many years) and there are millions of people hanging back for a 3G iphone (myself included).
Its not rocket science, its almost definitely Shakespeare and where there is a Will, there is a way!
But the user experience is of course much much better on the iPhone.
I wouldn't mind upgrading to an HSUPA-capable 3G iPhone, though, if Apple ever manage to launch the iPhone here in Scandinavia.
I really wonder why Apple is so slow in launching the iPhone around the world. My guess is that they take the most desperate operators first, those operators who are willing to throw kickbacks end percentages at Apple in order to attract customers or utilize their mostly idle phone networks.
I also wonder why Apple doesn't try to sell the iPod touch as a possible home phone, bundling it with some ip-telephony plan from Vonage or something like that, and offering an Apple Airport base station with a telephone jack in, and wifi telephony out wirelessly to the entire house. All apple needs to do is add a microphone and speaker to the touch, and SIP-protocol telephony support.
that is a great idea for th eipod touch. I dont have a house line but it would buy the i touch for my gf (she has a house line) at least it would be sexier and you could surf the web also
my 2 cents