June 19 - 1:40pm EDT   The iPhone 3G S appears to be selling swiftly in the European market, with O2 anticipating 50-percent higher sales than the iPhone 3G launch. The carrier is observing a ten-fold increase in average foot traffic, with entry in prime locations limited to customers purchasing a new iPhone. Availability in Italy has been expanded, with a third carrier set to offer the devices. [full story]

June 16 - 6:45pm EDT   Several European carriers, including Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany, have announced pricing for the iPhone 3G S. The new handset will be available from Orange on June 19th, with the 16GB model carrying a price of €149 (~$205 USD). Customers choosing the 32GB variant will have to pay €229 (~$315 USD) for the device. [full story]

June 2 - 7:30pm EDT   HTC has sent invitations to a press event to be held in London, UK, according to PhoneMag.com. The teaser simply reads "Come see..." but does not provide any additional details regarding the focus of the event. The company already announced the HTC Snap earlier this year, although a number of reports have provided details surrounding the Android-based Hero handset. The device is said to launch exclusively through Orange in Europe later this year. [full story]

October 7 - 1:35pm EDT   Developing European Union guidelines could force Apple to adopt a more user- and environmentally-friendly approach to batteries, reports say. The legal body is currently in the process of drafting a "New Batteries Directive," which would expand on the present set of guidelines designed to make it easier to remove, dispose of and/or recycle old batteries. The present directive indicates that companies must make it simple to remove batteries from electronics; the proposed one would insist that batteries can be "readily removed" for replacement or disposal. [full story]

September 17 - 11:00am EDT   Select resellers are stocking a 4GB version of the new iPod nano, in spite of Apple's announced capacities, a report claims. Although the Nano is officially available only in 8 and 16GB versions, Dutch resellers HTR are said to be carrying a smaller model. A Belgian reseller, Lab9, suggests that Apple has released a limited number of 4GB players to resellers, which are generally being priced at €119. [full story]

July 16 - 12:30pm EDT   The European Commission has ordered music copyright organizations to allow pan-European licensing schemes, says the Associated Press. At present, companies looking to sell music throughout Europe must negotiate agreements with 24 separate collecting societies, scattered throughout the European Union. While this may protect national industries and culture, the Commission has ruled that it also breaks antitrust regulations, giving the societies monopolies in their respective homelands. [full story]

July 3 - 12:45pm EDT   The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance has come out against proposed changes to how online music royalties are collected, writes the Associated Press. The conflict stems from an ongoing investigation by the European Commission, aimed at addressing antitrust concerns relating to the lack of Europe-wide royalty schemes. The Commission notes that currently, national copyright agencies have effective monopolies in their respective regions; there is also a need to negotiate as many as 27 separate royalty schemes for an album, something which may be hampering the spread of European music. [full story]

June 6 - 6:25pm EDT   Apple will likely allow carriers to subsidize the sales of the iPhone, but will lose a portion of the monthly revenue, a new report claims. Supporting previous reports of an expected carrier subsidy in the UK, The Financial Times says that the iPhone is set to be sold at significantly lower prices in both the US and Western Europe -- perhaps as much as $200 lower than the price of the current iPhone (available for $399 in the US). The move, the report claims, is a "tacit acknowledgement by the US technology company that its previous sales strategy was not sustainable," although may have been a necessary for Apple to hit its self-created 10 million iPhone sales target ... [full story]

May 6 - 10:10am EDT   The 3G broadband version of the iPhone should be on sale in at least some European countries before August, according to the New York Times. The newspaper cites an unidentified source "close to the situation," who says that the timing is connected to plans by Vodafone and Telecom Italia to release the phone across the continent. Specifically, Apple is said to want the 3G version on sale in new countries before the peak of the European vacation season, a time when many people might like to make use of functions such as the phone's mobile web browser. [full story]

April 29 - 4:45pm EDT   Apple could be re-evaluating its iPhone exclusivity agreements in future global releases as it expands into Europe, Asia, Central, and South America. Spanish language news site CincoDias writes that the same business methodology that Apple used to successfully launch the iPhone in the US doesn't necessarily mean the approach works globally. The publication cites poor European sales – when contrasted to North American numbers – especially due to individuals compromising the device's exclusivity through alternative means. [full story]

April 25 - 5:10pm EDT   In brief: We have a review of FileMaker's Bento, dates for the KORE 2 workshop tour have been announced, Zerofractal Studios has debuted Tree3D, European Country Keynote themes are available, and 1 million copies of Parallels have been sold ... We have posted a review of FileMaker's Bento. In Bento, you choose customizable forms and a number of containers, each with a specific use. Bento veers away from the more technical database jargon and refers to its databases as Collections in a library and compares them with iTunes playlists. Text entry boxes still use the term fields, like its big brother FileMaker, but Bento includes templates so that you can skip the frustrating ... [full story]

April 25 - 11:05am EDT   Apple's general manager of operations in Europe, Pascal Cagni, has vowed that the company will improve sales of the iPhone on the continent. "We can incontestably do better in Europe," Cagni tells French newspaper Les Echos. While not completely disastrous, sales of the iPhone have been lower than expected in Europe, with France having only recently passed the 100,000 unit mark. Both Germany and the UK have slashed prices in order to boost sales, although this is likely to clear stock in advance of a 3G iPhone. [full story]

April 21 - 3:05pm EDT   Apple is working to greatly expand the reach of its iTunes trademark, a filing at the European Trademark Office reveals. While Apple already owns multiple trademarks related to its combination music and video software, the new application would see the number of applicable categories jump from four to 19, making it extremely difficult for other companies to poach the name. Apple has in the past encountered conflicts with names such as "iPhone" or "iTV," due to other companies laying early claim. Problems with the latter resulted in the Apple TV. [full story]

April 16 - 11:35am EDT   Changes in the European iPhone market may have a dual significance, argue analysts with Piper Jaffray. Following a 75 percent price cut in Germany earlier this month, the UK has also slashed the price of the 8GB iPhone by 37 percent, to reach £169 ($335). Piper argues once again that this is a sign European carriers are attempting to clear out stock in advance of a 3G iPhone, anticipated for June; it may also however be emblematic of sales below expectations, a factor typically attributed to the iPhone's unusually high price in Europe, and a widespread acceptance of 3G that Apple cannot currently deliver on. [full story]

April 10 - 1:45pm EDT   The European Parliament has voted to abolish a plan to permanently ban illegal filesharers, writes IDG News. Under the rules of the plan, those caught sharing copyrighted music, video and other material would have been prevented from even connecting to the Internet for unspecified amounts of time, possibly permanently. "The vote shows that MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) want to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and those of consumers, and that big measures like cutting off Internet access shouldn't be used," according to EP spokeswoman Malene Folke Chaucheprat. [full story]