The coolest things for the coolest phones
T-Mobile have announced that later this year they will start shipping their first handsets running Google’s open Android operating system.
Speaking at the Wireless Innovati0n 2008, T-Mobile USA VP Joe Sims said that they would be releasing a series of Android devices this yeat, but didn’t have any details about who would be manufacturing the handset.
The smart money is on the HTC Dream (pictured, in a probably fake concept version), widely rumoured to be the first retail Android device.
Good news if you’re a German who’s been waiting to buy an iPhone until the price dropped. It’s dropped, and how! T-Mobile has cut the cost of the 8GB iPhone from 399 Euros to 99 Euros - a whopping 75% price cut.
Opinions are divided on whether this is because Apple’s handset isn’t selling well in Germany, or because T-Mobile wants to clear its stock before selling the 3G model, which is due to be released in the next few months. MocoNews reports that T-Mobile announced it had sold 70,000 iPhones in January, but hasn’t released updated figures since.
However, for those of us in the UK, the news leads to another question: will O2 follow suit, and if so, how soon? On its online store, the 8GB model is still selling for £269 (about 340 Euros - you could buy three for that price in Germany now, and still have enough left over for a slap-up bratwurst meal). Boo, hiss.
Nokia has chosen the CeBIT show as a launch pad for not one, but two carrier locked handsets today. The second of the two is the Nokia 6650, a sleek looking user friendly device optimized for use with T-Mobile services.
The big sell here is the integrated GPS and multimedia player, which seeing as the handset is a T-Mobile exclusive will no doubt compliment services such as web’n'walk, MyFaves, Mobile Jukebox and NaviGate.
The 6650 is also packing high-speed HSDPA connectivity, a 2.2″ TFT QVGA color display, 2 megapixel camera with flash, 30 MB of internal memory, micro SD card slot and an FM radio.
T-Mobile is set to push the device with an aggressive price point. In Germany for example, the Nokia 6650 will retail for just 1 euro together with the Relax 100 rate which offers 100 free minutes for 28 euros a month (about 20 quid). The Nokia 6650 is due to hit high-streets across Europe late summer.
The two companies have signed a strategic partnership to, as they say, “seize the mobile advertising opportunity”.
To us that means T-Mobile Web’n’walk users will be getting graphic adverts when using its mobile internet service. It will carry adverts exclusively sold and served by Yahoo!
The first adverts, which will be targeted to specific users based on already gathered information about them, will arrive in a matter of months.
Of course, both companies have been singing from the rooftops about what a great opportunity this is. It will be interesting to see consumers’ reactions when they’re suddenly bombarded with adverts when using Web’n’walk this summer. They’ll either silently accept it or maybe they’ll stop using it in droves.
We’ll be watching this with interest…
T-Mobile has thrown the cat among the pigeons by announcing free access to it’s wifi hotspot network to new users of it’s Web ‘n’ Walk data plan.
T-Mobile has the world’s largest hotspot network with some 39,000 access points of which around 1,200 are in the UK.
Pricing starts at £12.50 per month (with a Flext contract) and offers speeds of up to 8 mbps. Users have access to a 3G data connection and can switch to using a wifi hotspot when in range.
No word on how this affects existing users, but you would be rather annoyed if you had just taken out a contract and then spotted this post telling you you should have waited another week. If this applies to you - we are sorry, please don’t blame the messenger.
Orange has had HTC’s iPhone-lite Touch Plus for a while now – probably something to do with it having an exclusive deal? Anyway, T-Mobile’s jumping on the Touch bandwagon and has posted an HTC Touch Plus on its British site as ‘Coming Soon’.
While O2 has the iPhone market sewn up thanks to its deal with Apple, other operators have had to scramble around for alternatives and HTC’s nifty little device certainly fits the bill for people hankering after a touch-screen smartphone. Oh, and the HTC Touch Plus certainly won’t cost £270 AND a hefty 18-month contract!
Other ‘Coming Soon’ devices posted on T-Mobile’s site are the Nokia 1650 (Due February) and 8800 (January) and Sony Ericsson’s HSDPA-enabled Walkman phone, the W890i (Also due in February).
Woo! Hoo! Britain’s set to get complete 3G/HSDPA coverage from T-Mobile and 3 after they agreed to collaborate on the rollout of their 3G networks.
They reckon that by the end of 2008, they’ll offer almost complete population coverage for 3G in Britain, with noticeable improvements in 3G coverage in urban areas and inside buildings by 2009.
The agreement is the largest of its kind in the world and will speed up the operators’ rollouts of their 3G networks while creating Europe’s most extensive HSDPA network. Aren’t we Brits lucky?
The networks’ 3G licence commitments call for 80% population coverage, which will easily be exceeded by the deal. To handle the logistics and make sure everything runs smoothly, the two operators have also set up a joint venture company called Mobile Broadband Network.
This will run until 2031, so presumably it’ll be handling the rollout of 10G networks or whatever we’ll have by then…
A German court has overturned its previous decision to break up the Apple-T-Mobile deal for selling locked iPhones in Germany.
Vodafone had had its hopes raised by the court’s decision two weeks ago to force T-Mobile to sell unlocked iPhones, which it did for a mere €999 (£720). Now it seems the German court has reconsidered its decision, no doubt much to Vodafone’s disappointment.
Vodafone had originally objected to the exclusivity of the Apple’s deal with T-Mobile, arguing that consumers should be able to buy unlocked iPhones.
Apple has so far resisted calls to sell unlocked iPhones and instead preferred to sign exclusive deals tying its handsets to particular operators (Like O2 in the UK). Vodafone’s court filing was one of several that have been lodged against Apple’s strategy (There are two cases outstanding in the US).
T-Mobile has now promised that it will unlock iPhones after two years free of charge (After it’s made its money back?). Considering Apple has warned people that unlocking iPhones will cause software troubles later on, it isn’t clear whether T-Mobile’s unlocked devices will have the same troubles.
[Via BBC Online]
T-Mobile and Vodafone will go head to head in a Hamburg court this week in their fight over marketing rights for Apple’s iPhone in Germany. A date for the hearing has been set for November 29.
Vodafone last week filed an injunction with German courts requesting a hearing over T-Mobile’s exclusive rights to sell iPhones in Germany. It questioned the legality of T-Mobile locking iPhones to its network and its binding contracts for users.
German laws are different to those in the UK, and the exclusive T-Mobile-Apple deal could be illegal. If the court finds in favour of Vodafone, iPhones will have to be available unlocked in Germany.
Since the injunction last week T-Mobile has already changed its iPhone offer and is now selling Sim-free iPhones for over £700.
German iPhone fans will be waiting with baited breath for the court’s decision this week, as will we.
There’s developing news in T-Mobile’s spat with Vodafone in Germany, after the latter won a court injunction to prevent T-Mobile from selling the iPhone on an exclusive contract there. T-Mobile has now announced that it will also now sell an unlocked version of the iPhone, but at a price.
How much? It’ll set you back a whopping 999 Euros. That’s about £720! Although for Brits who really really want an iPhone on an operator other than O2, it might be a price worth swallowing (plus travel costs to go and get one, of course). T-Mobile will continue selling the iPhone for 399 Euros (£287).
It’s the implications elsewhere in the world (and specifically the UK) that I’m interested in, though. It’s unclear if this kind of legal challenge could be mounted in the UK, due to differing trade laws, but with the principle of selling a legally unlocked iPhone established elsewhere in Europe, Apple may come under pressure to follow suit here and in the US too.
(via MobileCrunch)
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