08/25, 2:40pm
New NYC, Hamburg stores
Apple has picked out an area for its latest New York City store, according to the company's retail chief, Ron Johnson. Speculated for some time, the shop will open later this year in the upper West Side of Manhattan, joining three other stores on the island including the famous Fifth Avenue flagship outlet. No specific building site has been announced, but some rumors have proposed that it could be established near Lincoln Center, or possibly within the Time Warner Center, which is already home to a number of luxury-oriented businesses.
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06/25, 11:55am
New German iPhone carrier
Germany will be the next country to break away from having a single iPhone carrier, Der Spiegel reports. Since 2007, the device has only been carried in the country by T-Mobile, a division of Deutsche Telekom. The company has benefited from a regional exclusivity deal with Apple, similar to that signed by all carriers involved in selling the original hardware. Debut countries also included the US, UK and France.
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06/16, 6:45pm
Europe iPhone 3G S prices
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.
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04/16, 10:30am
Movies on German iTunes
Germans can at last access movies from their local iTunes Store, Apple has announced. The company has agreed to distribution deals with a variety of major and independent studios, foreign and local, and posted an initial collection of 500 titles for renting or purchase. Some American titles include The Dark Knight and Pineapple Express, while German ones include Die Fälscher and Keinohrhasen.
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04/10, 1:05pm
EU to undo VoIP blocks?
The European Commission is considering a measure to force acceptance of VoIP by cellphone carriers, reports say. The EU's telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, has called for the EU to undo arbitrary obstacles to "innovative services" on cellphones; a draft of the VoIP measure is thought to already be completed, but still unfinished due to a lack of precise wording. Current rules permit each country to decide what is blocked on the Internet.
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04/02, 12:25pm
Germany halts iPhone Skype
German iPhone owners have been banned from fully exploiting the recently-released Skype app, writes the Associated Press. In spite of the title being legally available to download from the country's App Store, T-Mobile warns that it considers use of the app on its network a violation of contract. All VoIP services on the iPhone have been blocked since 2007, notes a representative for T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom.
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02/18, 10:55am
New European Apple Stores
Some new and previously-revealed Apple Stores have appeared on an official company map, reports observe. Among these is a site in Paris, France, which is generally expected to appear in the Carrousel du Louvre, but could be beaten by a shop situated near the Garnier operahouse. Also mentioned is a store in Milan, Italy, the potential location of which remains ambiguous.
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02/04, 4:50pm
German Mac clones
Another Mac clone builder has appeared in spite of questionable legality, a publication reports. Based in Germany, a company known as HyperMegaNet UG has begun selling the PearC line, on which shoppers can have Mac OS X Leopard installed, or alternately Windows Vista or XP. The line is divided into Starter, Advanced and Professional models, with base prices ranging from €499 to €1,499.
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12/01, 3:15pm
First German Apple Store
Apple's first German retail store is due to open this week, the company has announced. The shop is situated at 1 Rosenstraße in Munich, and will throw open its doors at 10AM local time this Saturday, December 6th. Visitors will of course be able to test Macs, iPods and iPhones; as an incentive to arrive early, the first 2,500 people to come will be given a free Apple t-shirt. Although the store should be closed on Sundays, regular hours are slated to be a consistent 9AM to 8PM Monday through Saturday.
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11/06, 12:55pm
T-Mobile Ger., US fortunes
The German division of T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, received a substantial boost from the iPhone in its third financial quarter, according to a results report. T-Mobile Deutschland is said to have gained 271,000 net subscribers in Q3, a full 82 percent better than in the same period of 2007. The company describes the iPhone 3G as a "significant driver" of new subscriptions, and notes that it was "in extremely high demand" during the July launch phase. 401,000 German subscribers were recorded in all, and Deutsche Telekom's total net income for the quarter was $1.52 billion versus last year's $1.37 billion.
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10/03, 4:40pm
Briefly: Playwatch sale
In brief: Playwatch, an iTunes controller, has been reduced to nearly half-price, dropping from $13 to $7 for the month of October. Meanwhile, Big Nerd Ranch Europe is offering an iPhone Bootcamp for developers who want to learn iPhone app development. It will run December 8-12 near Frankfort, Germany. MacNN has reviewed the Griffin iTrip Auto SmartScan FM Transmitter, commenting favorably on its performance, but questioning the high price.
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08/26, 1:05pm
Orange admits 3G speed cap
French cellphone carrier Orange has admitted to imposing artificial limits on its 3G broadband network, reports say. The confession comes after complaints from a number of iPhone 3G owners, who in testing their download capacity discovered that they were limited to a maximum of 400Kbps, as compared to the 1.8Mbps possible on T-Mobile's German network. Most 3G networks are limited to a peak speed of 3.2Mbps, although some may support 7.2Mbps.
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08/25, 9:35am
T-Mobile: 120,000+ iPhones
Deutsche Telekom's wireless division, T-Mobile, has sold over 120,000 iPhone 3Gs since the device's launch on July 11th, according to the division's CEO. Hamid Akhavan claims that "expectations were surpassed," and that at least 75,000 of the phones were sold in Germany. Many people wanting one have not yet been able to obtain it though, as Akhavan notes that a backlog exists due to delivery problems.
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07/03, 10:55am
German iPhone upgrades
German owners of current 2.5G iPhones are angry with T-Mobile, a local publication claims. Wiwo.de notes that even though Germans paid €399 for first-generation iPhones, at least $30 more than American phones before even September price cuts, T-Mobile now expects people to pay €15 for each month remaining in their contracts if they intend to upgrade to an iPhone 3G. For some customers, this could be as much as €240.
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06/23, 11:00am
Gravis iPhone 3G deal
Germany's T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, has signed a deal to sell the iPhone 3G through a local reseller, an industry publication reports. People in DT's "business circles" are said to have acknowledged a deal with Gravis, a computer vendor which already sells a number of Apple products including Macs and iPod and iPhone accessories. There is no mention of Apple involvement in any negotiations, despite the company's usual insistence on control of all sales.
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06/16, 9:25am
T-Mobile's €1 iPhone 3G
T-Mobile will sell the iPhone 3G for as little as €1, the company has announced. When the device launches in Germany on July 11th, shoppers will have the option of pairing an 8GB model with a high-end €69 per month contract, resulting in the sharp discount to the phone itself. People wanting cheaper tariffs will have to pay greater initial costs, with the 8GB capacity costing as much as €170, Reuters notes.
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05/20, 9:25am
T-Mobile & iPhone control
The iPhone will likely remain a T-Mobile exclusive in Germany, says the company's CEO. "We have a very good relationship with Apple...at least in Germany it is exclusive, and we expect it to remain as such," Hamid Akhavan is quoted as saying by Reuters. The comment comes in response to a string of non-exclusive deals in countries such as Italy and Austria, reversing a trend in which Apple insisted that any country with the iPhone have only one official carrier. Other regions currently operating on exclusive contracts include the US, the UK, Ireland and France.
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05/15, 12:00pm
100K + iPhones in Germany
T-Mobile has sold over 100,000 iPhones in Germany, according to the head of the carrier's parent company, Deutsche Telekom. CEO Rene Obermann made the statement Thursday as a follow-up to statistics from January, which indicated that it had sold 70,000 iPhones since the device's local debut in early November of 2007. While the figure points to a relative slowdown in sales, T-Mobile board member Hamid Akhavan says that this is "about in line" with corporate targets.
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04/03, 11:10am
New T-Mobile iPhone plans
The German branch of T-Mobile is changing the way it charges for the iPhone, a local site claims. Under the suggested scheme, an 8GB iPhone could be had for as little as €99; this stands in contrast to the currently advertised cost of €399. The tradeoff would be a mandatory subscription to the carrier's most expensive iPhone plan, Complete XL, which provides 1,000 minutes and 300 text messages. The price of the phone escalates as the plan becomes less expensive; a phone for the Complete L plan would be €149, while taking Complete M would cost €199.
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03/06, 12:05pm
Nav N Go iPhone GPS
Ahead of Apple's official announcement of the iPhone software developer's kit, Nav N Go unveiled an iPhone GPS unit at the CeBIT 2008 conference in Hanover, Germany. According to Pocket-lint.co.uk, the device combines Nav N Go's iGO My Way 8 satnav software with an "upcoming, yet to be announced iPhone GPS receiver". The current distribution of the software requires a jailbroken iPhone, but could receive the official nod later today.
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03/04, 10:10am
Iomega 120GB REV at CeBIT
Iomega today announced the REV 120GB Backup Drive, as well as the accompanying disks, and it will show the offerings at CeBIT 2008 in Hanover, Germany. The third-generation offering adds to a current user base of over 350,000 drives, with over 2 million disks in circulation. The drive will be available with a USB 2.0 connection in April, while Iomega expects to release an ATAPI version later in the summer. Pricing was not immediately available.
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02/09, 12:40pm
Apple store in Munich
Apple is looking to open its first German retail store, which will be located in Munich, a city that is known for its expensive, high-end shopping. This will join over 200 stores that Apple currently has open in the US, Canada, the UK, Italy and Japan, after the company said in its financial report that it would open additional international stores throughout 2008. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, German retail analysts say that other suitable locations for a store would include Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Frankfurt.
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01/28, 9:10am
70,000 iPhones in Germany
Deutsche Telekom, the owner of T-Mobile, says that some 70,000 German iPhone subscribers have been added in the 11 weeks since the product's debut in the country on November 9th of last year. "The iPhone is by far the most sold multimedia device in T-Mobile's portfolio," according to Philipp Humm, the head of T-Mobile Germany. Reuters notes however that this figure is roughly equivalent to the number of iPhones sold by Orange in France, which only began its sales on November 28th.
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01/15, 2:40pm
Nokia cuts 2,300 jobs
Cellphone giant Nokia will soon close one of its German factories, putting some 2,300 people out of work, writes Agence France-Presse. The Finnish company claims that due to "market changes and increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness," it can no longer afford to keep its presence in Germany, which is represented by a facility in Bochum. Along with the factory, the Bochum site also plays host to buildings such as research and development labs, which Nokia hopes to sell to one or more parties. The company says it is already in negotiations with India's Sasken Technologies, in this regard.
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12/10, 10:45am
Popular EU gadgets: iPod
Apple's iPod and iPhone rank among the top gadgets so far this holiday season in Europe, according to a comScore study designed to track the frequency of online searches. The firm studied 20 different models of gadgets from the game console, mobile phone, and portable music player markets across the UK, France, and Germany during the first three weeks of November. The study found that Apple's iPod is the second most popular item with 3.5 million searches, while the company's iPhone is the fifth most searched device.
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12/03, 9:30am
German iPhone ruling Tues.
A ruling on German sales of the iPhone has been delayed by one day, the Hamburg District Court has announced. A judge had been set rule Monday on T-Mobile's appeal of an injunction granted to Vodafone, but an unspecified issue has pushed the decision to Tuesday afternoon. The preliminary injunction was issued in late November, when Vodafone charged that the exclusive availability of the iPhone through T-Mobile was unfair; in filing its appeal, T-Mobile stated that it would consider seeking damages for lost sales.
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11/27, 1:45pm
Cheaper unlocked iPhones
German-based wireless carrier Debitel is launching a service plan for Apple's iPhone to capitalize on a recent court ruling that forced Deutsche Telekom and the Cupertino-based company to offer the handset as an unlocked device, capable of working with other cellular providers. Debitel is offering customers a €600 sign-up bonus to make up for the additional cost of purchasing an unlocked iPhone in Germany, according to AFX News, which makes unlocked iPhones cost the same amount as those sold with a 2-year Deutsche Telekom cellular contract.
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11/26, 9:40am
German iPhone unlock
The ability to officially unlock German iPhones is already in effect, accounts say. The option reportedly first became available on November 21st, the same day T-Mobile announced that unlocked iPhones would be coming. Instead of buying a pre-unlocked device however, shoppers simply pick up a regular one for €399, and then pay T-Mobile the extra €600 premium. A phone's particular IMEI number is then forwarded to Apple, which updates its database such that the next time the device is synched, iTunes will unlock it automatically within a matter of seconds. A SIM card from any carrier can then be inserted.
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