(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile will be the exclusive carrier for Apple's iPhone in Germany, where the gadget will go on sale Nov. 9.
The iPhone, a combined cell phone-iPod media player that also can wirelessly access the Internet, will cost 399 euros ($553), including Germany's 19% value-added tax, said Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Hamid Akhavan, head of the T-Mobile International division.
The announcement came a day after Apple said the iPhone would go on sale in Britain on November 9 with service from mobile operator O2. It debuted in the US on June 29, with service exclusively through AT&T.
The 8-gigabyte phone will be available only in T-Mobile's 700 shops in Germany and through T-Mobile's Internet shop, with a new two-year contract. Monthly pricing was to be announced later.
As in Britain and the US, the phone will not operate on Europe's fastest cellular data networks. But when it's within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot, it automatically connects to the faster technology.
Jobs said the power demands of chips for the faster, 3G cell networks would have cut phone talk time in half.
Beyond Britain and Germany, rumors have circulated for months that Spain's Telefonica, the parent of O2, and France's Orange likely would offer the device in Spain and France. None of those companies has confirmed holding talks with Apple.
© 2007 The Associated Press
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