14 DAY TRIAL // After the July 11 release of the iPhone 3G (on 21 global markets), Apple is preparing to launch its new handset in other 21 countries around the world. Thus, the iPhonisation will continue on August 22, with important markets like India (the second largest mobile market in the world), Poland and Argentina.
The 21 new countries (and the mobile operators, in parenthesis) that will get the iPhone 3G starting August 22 are:
- Argentina (Claro);
- Colombia (Comcel);
- Chile (Claro);
- Czech Republic (O2);
- El Salvador (Claro);
- Ecuador (Porta);
- Estonia (EMT - owned by TeliaSonera);
- Guatemala (Claro);
- Honduras (Claro);
- Hungary (T-Mobile);
- India (Airtel and Vodafone);
- Lithuania (Omnitel - owned by TeliaSonera);
- Latvia (Latvian Mobile Telephone, also known as LMT);
- Poland (Orange and Era);
- Peru (Claro);
- Paraguay (Claro);
- Philippines (Globe Telecom - owned by SingTel);
- Romania (Orange);
- Singapore (SingTel);
- Slovakia (Orange and T-Mobile);
- and Uruguay (Claro).
Among these new countries that will see the iPhone 3G at the end of August, India is undoubtedly the most interesting market for Apple. Airtel and Vodafone together serve more than 100 million Indian mobile users, hence the Cupertino-based company could sell, in time, a couple of millions of iPhones in India only.
As for the features of the iPhone 3G, in case someone doesn't know them, they include: quad-band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) and tri-band HSDPA (850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz) connectivity, built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS, App Store access, Microsoft Exchange email and an internal memory of 8 or 16 GB, depending on the version you choose. Of course, the new iPhone also brings all the stuff that the first-generation has, like the 3.5 inch TFT touchscreen display, the multi-touch Mac User Interface, the advanced multimedia and Web capabilities and so on.
The iPhone 3G will most probably be sold on the new markets for prices similar to the ones available now in the US; hence, users should expect to pay the equivalent of 200 USD if buying the handset with a contract agreement.