BMW's iPhone runs on Vodafone (not T-Mobile) at Frankfurt Motor Show
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Sep 17th 2007 8:57AM
posted Sep 17th 2007 8:57AM
Update: Meanwhile... our readers have united on the edge of Occam's razor with the following conclusion: international roaming.
[Via itrafik, thanks Jay A.]
Read -- Photo above found in the iPhone section
I think they've just unlocked it, hence the "Voda..." like an unlocked phone would do, Not Vodafone in a smaller font size. I'll see if i can get some pics when i'm there.
Interestingly, they also have a phone running on AT&T in the main page.
Obviously, AT&T isn't the European one, but still.
Also, if you look a bit more closely, the backing of the 4 icons at the bottom (phone, iPod, etc.) is more blue-looking than the American version shown on Apple's website. And really, why would anyone at BMW bother to photoshop in the Voda... up the top, unless it's a bit of wishful thinking.
If you look at all the colored areas the entire image is color shifted to the blues... the bottom dock is normal when this is taken into account.
hmmmm, like 20 news items about getting the sim lock of an iphone....
and than : OH theres a sim lock free iphone ?!?!?!?!?
AT&T has a roaming agreement with Vodafone, hence the Voda...
I saw another iPhone here in Italy (it was NOT unlocked) which showed the same Voda... network.
Yeah i was going to write the same thing. Seems like the most logical explanation
Also, if Vodafone was the main partner, I'm sure they wouldn't stand for the bastardization of their name.
that makes sense but also raises another point. if voda is already a roaming partner and works with the iphone why would apple not use them as the provider. if apple then at&t, if at&t then voda. thus if apple then voda.
It's gotta get to Europa *very* soon. Or else I'll do drastic stuff, like buying a touch.
We all know that the iPhone can be unlocked and can be used with any SIM card after that. I saw a video of some Frenchies that unlocked their iPhones, using the "Geohot" method and they were using Vodafone.
Whether they were unlocked or not, it's obviously possible to run it, since AT&T has a relationship with Vodafone in Europe. More than likely, it's unlocked.
Maybe when you go from the US to Europe the carrier here becomes Vodafone?
Would seem likely.
The guy who showed me the iPhone in the BMW explained to me that the phone was connected to AT&T US network via Roaming, in order to work in Europe. This kind of roaming is very expensive but can work with any operator.
Now, I think I will trust more the demonstrator than any engadget reader's speculation but it's up to you.
Roaming. I saw 10+ different carrier names on my iPhone while traveling Europe -- Each had the '...'.
International roaming it is.
I have never seen so many engadget commenters agree so easily before...am totally impressed...
(yeah, international roaming makes a hell of a lot more sense than showing off an unlocked phone...why should BMW care about the costs anyway?)
I'm well annoyed because like the day after I bought an iPod touch on eBay they say they're announcing the iPhone here in the UK tomorrow which is slightly annoying now I have to own both
Congratulations Apple on yet anther biblical cock up; let's face it Apple do do some stupid anti-europe stuff sometimes =]
It took them until September 2007 just to get TV shows on UK iTunes; my guess is 2020 for the movies =]
To be fair they said "Q4 2007 for Europe" when the US release date was announced and we all knew it would come out before Christmas.
That's a bad news... i have Swisscom (they have a partnership with Vodafone) so I guess i won't be able to buy an iPhone when it'll be out here in Switzerland...
you could unlock it. :)
and the editors aren't just assuming it's simply an unlocked iphone because....... c'mon guys. I comment on most of the iphone stories, but I gotta agree for once, this one ain't news. hacking, sure, unlocked iphone caught int he wild, no.
not having an iPhone I wouldn't be an expert. But I'd prefer to say it's unlocked. C'mon. Even big businesses don't want to pay for _that_ much international roaming.
So, I get that the whole iPhone thing is a cool gadget and that's why the device itself is covered here, but doesn't something this inane and completely un-related to the gadget itself belong on Engadget Mobile, not Engadget? I'll even give you the unlock hacks as belonging here, but service providers? Who gives a flip!
Audi had one too! They got the iPhone from Apple Germany running on Vodafone! This phone was a 4GB Version without UMTS! ;)
BMW runs a contract with Telefonica (o2 Germany) and not with Vodafone - so it must be Roaming.
... in case of ANY roaming the current provider will be shown. Since we have oh so many AT&T cells in germany i assume this is just an american model during roaming .... d
did anyone ever notice when ever some rumor pic come out almost everybody call it a photoshop n then 98% of the time it turns out real?
European networks are bizarre. I'm on O2 UK and when I holiday in France I get mainly Bouyges FR which is the main French O2 partner but even so, SFR (largely Vodafone owned) and Orange are still there. When in Germany I get O2 Germany (for obvious reasons) and sometimes Vodafone.
This is most certainly not an unlocked iPhone. Just think of the possible questions Apple could start asking BMW if it was. Most certainly roaming.
Is it just me or did that iPhone have a bluetooth icon at the top corner?
Since Apple seems quite handy at getting concessions out of carriers, I wonder if they would use their muscle to get the carriers to agree on providing cheap international data roaming to each other's iPhone wielding traveling customers? Without cheap data, the iPhone is a decent phone with a lot of useless/expensive applications.