14 DAY TRIAL // While Apple was opening the virtual doors to its first official presence in Portugal, rumors have begun to arise about the iPhone in Spain. The company has definitely been quite busy in the European space as of late and the iPhone launches are helping hasten the company's official presence in various countries.
While an Apple Store won't be opening any time soon, Apple has taken its first formal steps in Portugal, by opening its official Apple Portugal website, complete with an online store. While Apple's products may have been present in the country long before that, the company's business was handled by Interlog, an Independent Marketing Company. Up to now, Portugal, like many other countries in central Europe, the Middle East and Africa had to pretty much sell and support Apple products by themselves.
Meanwhile, in Spain, rumors have begun to surface about Apple's arrangements to bring the iPhone to the country. It would seem that Spain was one of the countries initially scheduled for a late 2007 launch, but was moved back due mainly to supply limitations. Upon realizing that there simply will not be enough iPhones to allow more than Germany, France and the UK to participate in the first wave, Spain was pushed back to a spring release. As such, the rumors claim that the Spanish iPhone will be available in May, have 3G capabilities and be carried by Telefonica.
Unlike the rumors about the Italian iPhone, here there are no actual files in the iPhone software to offer any sort of support to the claims. However, like in Italy, there might be some substance to the rumors, considering that Telefonica is the parent company of O2, which was elected as the official carrier for the iPhone in the UK. As for the 3G capabilities, Apple has already stated that they are working on better models, but trying to pin a date on them is anybody's guess.