14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's iPhone will soon be released in Spain, one of Europe's largest mobile markets, via Movistar, which unveiled the iPhone's arrival on its official website. The Movistar webpage announcing the iPhone is now removed, but according to Apple Weblog Spain, there were almost 25,000 users who "signed" the fact that they're waiting for the handset to become available. This happened in less than 24 hours, so it seems there's a great interest from the Spanish users for the iPhone. Which is no wonder, as Apple's handset has become hugely popular since it was first released, back in September 2007, in the US.
Movistar did not unveil any details regarding the price of the iPhone or about when its customers will be able to buy it. Also, we can't say if the Spanish carrier is going to offer the 3G iPhone or the EDGE-only one, already available on several markets around the globe.
Since the 3G iPhone will apparently be released on the 9th of June and Movistar will surely not launch its own iPhone by then, there are lots of chances for Spain to get the second generation iPhone. Which, if we're to believe the rumors floating around the Web, will be much more advanced than the first generation one, bringing, besides the features from the current model, stuff like 3G connectivity, built-in GPS, a better photo camera and so on.
Anyway, for the moment the only safe thing to say is that at least the 2.5G iPhone is making its way to the Spanish users.
With 23 million subscribers and the widest network coverage in the country, Movistar is the largest Spanish mobile operator. The company is ahead of Vodafone (15.5 million users), Orange (11 million users) and the newcomer Yoigo (subsidiary of TeliaSonera), which only offers 3G services and for the moment has less than 1 million customers.