Europe iPhone delays, coming to S. Korea?

Foreign cellular carrier companies like France Telecom's mobile unit, Orange, are working to secure contracts with Apple to provide service for the Cupertino-based company's iPhone. Orange has announced that it has not won the rights to market Apple's iPhone in France, and said that various mobile operators are still in talks with Apple which will likely prolong the decision for several weeks. "A launch date of September, as some reports have said, seems to me impossible," said Louis-Pierre Wenes, executive director of Orange. Wenes noted that an iPhone launch is possible in the fourth quarter of this year as Apple initially planned, according to Forbes.

Companies elsewhere in the world are also looking to ink deals with Apple surrounding its iPhone, such as KT Freetel in South Korea. As the second largest mobile service provider by sales in the country, KT Freetel today announced that it is looking to obtain rights to distribute the iPhone in South Korea, according to MarketWatch.

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chadpengar

Korea

08/24, 2:42pm, EDT

Does KT Freetel use GSM? I was under the impression that all the Korean operators used either Korea-specific CDMA technology or 3G systems. It has always been a blackhole to roaming though on paper you are supposed to be able to roam on 3G (didn't work for me when I was there)

Chad

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Constable Odo

Does SK want the iPhone?

08/26, 10:41am, EDT

I've been hearing that the iPhone wouldn't be of any use in South Korea because SK already has far better cellphones with features that the iPhone couldn't touch. It was said that Korean cellphones already do everything better than the iPhone, so what would be the point to introduce it in that country. Even inexpensive phones in Korea do Instant Messaging and video recording, so what possibly could the iPhone have to offer to Korean users.

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JulesLt

Features vs Interface

08/27, 8:30am, EDT

S.E.Asian phones are generally further ahead in terms of number of features and things like video recording . . yes. But - as you can see when they eventually appear on the Western market - they still have the UI problems that all phone companies (except early Nokia phones) have.

Chad - I'd be surprised if Apple designed the iPhone as GSM specific, especially if they'd been in talks with Verizon first - the comms module would logically be something easily switchable.

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