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Times
Online is running a story about the not-so-good sales of Apple’s iPhone in Europe. According to the British publication, the
European mobile operators have overestimated the demand for iPhone in Europe and now they are cutting the prices in order to
“clear” the shelves.
Three mobile carriers sell the iPhone in Europe:
Telefonica’s O2 in UK,
Deutsche Telekom’s T Mobile in Germany
and Orange, the mobile arm of France Telecom, in
France.
The first two operators have already announced new prices
for iPhone. Earlier this month T-Mobile announced that the 8GB version of
iPhone, will be sold for 99 euros as a part of a promotion that runs from April
7 to April 30. Through this promotion T-Mobile hopes to win new customers, but
in order to obtain this price they will have to sign up for a two-year contract
that offers an 89 euros monthly plan.
Additionally, T-Mobile offers three other contracts: Complete S under which iPhone costs 249 while
the monthly price is 29 euros, Complete M, through which the consumers can buy
the iPhone for 199 euros and a monthly price of 49 euros, and Complete L, with the
iPhone priced at 149 euros and a 69 euros monthly price. Meanwhile the price of
the 16 GB version will remain unchanged, and the phone will be sold for 499
euros.
On April 15, O2 also dropped the price of the 8 GB version from £269 to £169. So
far, Orange has
left the price unchanged. Times Online believes that these price cuts could
also signal the introduction of the 3G iPhone.
Citing some anonymous sources, TimesOnline noted that Apple
could unveil in June not just one new model of iPhone, but three.
An Asian analyst said for the British newspaper that the 3G
iPhone will be "radically different" to the current device, which has
a 4.5 inch screen and slick, aluminium backing. "Among the possibilities
are flip version, which would enable the screen to be larger, and a sliding
model with a regular qwerty keyboard - as opposed to a touchscreen one,"
Times Online wrote.
However, this is a speculation we find hard to believe.
Referring to a 3G iPhone, Steve Jobs noted almost one year ago that this kind
of device will need a new battery, but he didn’t give any details. Probably the new version could be slightly different from the first iPhone, but it's
hard to believe that Apple will change radically a design that proved so far to be a real
success.
One thing is sure: Apple’s annual World Wide Developer
Conference is coming and until June 9 when Jobs will go on stage to give his speech, we
will have our good share of rumors about the alleged, upcoming 3G iPhone.
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