Files in iPhone reveal overseas plans for T-Mobile, Vodafone
By Ryan Block 
posted July 4th 2007 3:09PM
posted July 4th 2007 3:09PM
That iPhone firmware leaked this week? Well, as found on the iPhone Dev Wiki it's been cracked open, its files laid bare, and deep within the system one can find four very special, very telling files:Default_CARRIER_ATT.png
Default_CARRIER_CINGULAR.png
Default_CARRIER_TMOBILE.png
Default_CARRIER_VODAFONE.png
We know AT&T / Cingular have a 5-year exclusivity agreement on the iPhone in the US, but if this doesn't make clear Apple's plans to launch on Vodafone (presumably for UK and much of Europe) and T-Mobile (presumably for Germany) we don't know what does.
P.S. -Sorry, those iPhone images are encoded all funny (something about flipped R and B pixels?), we couldn't get 'em working. Anyone with some hacking skills want to make 'em readable for us?
P.P.S. -Apple can stop calling the iPhone's browser "Safari" now, we know they differentiated by calling it MobileSafari.app in the iPhone (and it's only 640KB, oddly).
[Via Hackintosh]
I'm not so sure that this means that VF and TM are the EU operators, most GSM phones store details for other networks for roaming purposes. For instance the prefered roaming partner on my T-Mobile UK branded phone in the US is Cingular. For VF phones (don't forget the Vodafone have a big share in Verizon but can't use CDMA networks) its T-Mobile US. Go figure...
Let's see what they do before offering it to Europe. Right now it's rather behind with no 3G, the lame camera, bo built in GPS etc. Fine for the American market but lets hope they improve it - cos we do want it here in impoverished old Europe.
Probably the 640K MobileSafari.app is built on some browser library. So that 640K is just a small shell program, plus some icons and things.
Go suck it EGDE, 3G here we come!! ;)
Hmm so is it o2 or vodafone?
the times seems pretty sure its o2!
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article2028678.ece
Very Interesting.
Maybe O2 had a press release embargoed until midnight, I'm still trying to find other sources for this news, but if it's true, I'm a happy man! I'm currently on Virgin, but I'd rather switch to O2 instead of Vodafone, I always found them a bit expensive.
LOL, from the bottom of the article: "O2 and Vodafone both declined to comment."
Well where the heck did they get the info from then?
Just an idea.
Apple will launch iPhone in Europe somewhere around the end of December. This makes me think that you U.S. Apple fans are testing Steve's toy on your own money. This guy is really a genius. He got over 500K testers within a weekend, he is getting feedback more than he needs in order to update the software 5-6 times and guess what? You are paying him! Finally, in 6 months it will be a mature product with mature software. This time I'm really glad that they've launched the thing in US first. Advantages and disadvantages...
RE: 5 year exclusive-- Can someone explain to me why we can't just call Cingular/ATT up & ask that our phone be unlocked?
I thought the Library of Congress ruled last year that locking phones wasn't legal (or at least we could ask that they be unlocked).
T-Mobile allows this out of the kindness of their heart, but shouldn't all companies be allowing this now?
> Outrageous! This is why I hate our marketing department. I
> work for 3, and we've had a proper unlimited data offer for
> only £5 ($10) a month for almost a year!
> T-Mobile come along and launch their stupid web 'n' walk
> (unlimited my arse, it's got a 512MB "fair use" limit!) for
> more money and everyone thinks they got there first.
@James - the basic T-Mobile Web'n'Walk £7.50/month data tarrif is capped at 1GB fair use, while their Web'n'Walk Plus data tarrif (which allows laptop/modem use) is capped at 3GB (£12.50/month).
The £5/month "unlimited" internet tarrif on 3 is also capped at 1GB a month (a good deal for phone-only usage) however the only tarrifs that allow laptop/modem usage are the £15/month tarrif (capped at 56MB/month - how I laughed at that!) and the "unlimited" laptop access at £45/month which is capped at a measely 512MB, 1/6th the allowance for almost 4 times the cost compared to T-Mobile!
On the whole, the 3 data tarrifs don't match those of T-Mobile. Who got their first makes no difference to the consumer, but it's obvious that T-Mobile wipe the @rse of 3 when it comes to data.
Fair dos mate, they've changed the FUP to 1GB recently. I should mention that ours is actually 2GB although it's advertised at 1GB, no idea why. You can also use the £5 add-on for modem use - we just don't tell anyone! (cf: previous comments re: marketing).
The other tariffs you mention are hopelessly out of date.
So to sum up - we charge £2.50 less than T-Mobile, who have about a tenth of our 3G coverage. And what's this? HSDPA, full UK Coverage by early '08? Sorry, T-Mobile has no HSDPA at all? Yes you're right, T-Mobile are only good enough to wipe our arses.
Just remember that if it were not for 3, you still wouldn't have open internet browsing on a mobile phone at a flat rate.
Sorry James, but you can't blame anyone for not knowing about Three's internet data deals if the Three web site provides inaccurate and misleading information...
not to mention.. safarimobile crashes a lot
Well if T-mobile in Germany gets the Iphone I will see if I can use my T-mobile US sim in the phone which would be sweet. It would be better than AT&T. But I probably would need a German Itunes account.
Oops, forgot to mention...
Does T-Mobile offer Skype? Free MSN Messaging, unlimited for life? A viable consumer Push Mail solution for your existing handset? All included within the £5 add-on - which ALSO allows (let me re-iterate) modem use, 2GB fair use, and is part of the easily the most competitive Voice 'n' Text tariffs available in the UK.
No, our customer service is not good enough.
No, 3G handsets are not good enough yet.
who cares??? you are all f*cking losers!!!!!! the iphone wont make your lives better and it wont make you cooler or liked more. IT'S JUST A PHONE!!!!