Friday, March 28,2008 @ 9:20am
Mexican iPhone set for June?
The iPhone could be headed to Mexico as soon as June, a Mexican newspaper reports. The paper cites a source within Apple, who says that the company is in talks with Telcel, Mexico's largest cellular carrier. Reporters are also said to have made a number of calls to Apple US customer support, and been told multiple times that while iPhones cannot currently be shipped to Mexico, the phone should become available domestically in June. This is the same month as Apple's planned iPhone 2.0 firmware update.
The source within Apple adds that the phone could premiere in some South American countries on the same day, but that the exact launch date is unknown, and no other carriers have been put forward.
Of concern to Mexicans may be cost, as while a 16GB iPhone is $499 in the US, after taxes, tariffs and currency conversion, this may amount to 7,410 pesos ($674). Some experts are said to believe however that Apple will deliberately slash the price of the Mexican iPhone, in order to remain competitive in a market with a relatively small middle class.