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Orange bringing the HTC Dream to France this week?
Telefonica was the first to pick up the facelifted Dream for a Spanish launch, and now it seems Orange wants in on the action, too. Word is that 99 euros after rebate (about $124) will net you the Android-powered beauty (well, "beauty" is subject to personal opinion here) on a 24-month commitment to Orange's Origami Star Plus package, which will include unlimited data, unlimited text, and 50 hours' worth of access to Orange's WiFi hotspot network. It's all supposed to launch come March 5, so France doesn't have long to wait -- only question is, where's the Magic?[Via Unwired View]
In France, Apple must let other carriers sell iPhone
The French government's competition watchdog told Apple that it must allow other carriers besides Orange to offer the iPhone. Orange is a subsidiary of France Telecom. In September, Orange competitor Bouygues Telecom SA filed a complaint with the Competition Council about the exclusivity agreement. While a decision hasn't been reached on the merit of Bouygues' argument, today's order was a "protective measure" as the Council continues its investigation, likely to take a year or more. Both SFR (the second-largest carrier in France) and Bouygues Telecom (the third largest) hope to begin selling the handsets soon. In a statement, the Competition Council said that the Apple-Orange agreement posed a "serious and immediate threat" to competition among carriers, and higher costs for customers. France Telecom plans to appeal the decision. [Via BusinessWeek and Reuters.]
Modelabs follows up MTV3.3 with -- you guessed it -- MTV3.4
MTV and French carrier SFR are back at it with yet another remix of their Modelabs-sourced music phone, and this one's just about as funky fresh as we've seen 'em. Following the MTV3.3, the new MTV3.4 carries the torch with one-click access to MTV content (in other words, you'd better really be into MTV to buy this thing), a 2-megapixel camera, 3G, video calling, and microSD expansion. It runs as little as €9 (about $12) depending on the plan and the contract -- so MTV aside, it seems to be a pretty good deal considering you're getting a tricked-out 3G slider.[Via Unwired View]
3G-enabled Archos 5 and Eee PC 901 announced by French wireless carrier SFR
You don't see a lot of PMPs or netbooks out there with carrier branding, but both the Archos 5 and the Eee PC have gotten themselves 3G-enabled recently, and French wireless company SFR isn't wasting any time with the silkscreen machine -- it's just announced subsidized versions of both. The Archos 5 3G+ comes dressed in sharp new black suit and features a smaller 30GB drive to go with its integrated 3G modem and custom SFR menu items -- you're looking at €249 ($320) with a monthly data fee of €19 ($24) for existing SFR customers or €24 ($30) for new subs. More or less the same deal with the Eee 901: you're getting the familiar 1.6GHz Atom with 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, and an integrated 3G modem for €279 ($358) with €29 ($37) / €34 ($43) monthly contract fees. Hopefully we'll see some Stateside carriers pick up on this trend soon, eh?Read - Archos 5 3G+Read - Eee PC 901
Intel-based MID to make a splash on France's SFR
It looks like France's SFR will be getting some tweaked variant of Aigo's familiar P8860 Intel-based MID... with 3G on-board. The device features an 800 x 480 touchscreen display, an 800MHz Atom CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of flash memory, Bluetooth, WiFi, a VGA webcam, 3 megapixel camera, and a full slide-out AZERTY keyboard (as well as some odd, circular navigation wheel). Obviously the big bonus here is the 3G connectivity, which sounds like it will be offered at €19.90 (about $26) or €24.90 ($32) per month, depending on plan. By appearances, those plans include unlimited data -- though the machine translated article seems to suggest there could be some capping. The Linux-powered device will sell for €249 / $310 (€349 with a €100 rebate) -- no word on release date.
New players team up with LiMo Foundation
Following a new round of partnership announcements back in February, LiMo Foundation today added 8 new members, bringing the grand total to 40 -- and perhaps most notably, Verizon Wireless becomes the first American carrier to team up with the group and the Foundation's final board member (in other words, they seem to be taking this initiative pretty seriously). Other new players include South Korea's SK Telecom, France's SFR, Sagem, chipmaker Infineon, and Mozilla, suggesting that there'll be plenty of mobile Firefox support for LiMo's nascent platform. LiMo represents the largest Linux-based threat to Android's plans for world domination, having announced its initiative some time before Google while collecting a veritable who's-who of world players from NTT DoCoMo to manufacturers like LG and Motorola -- and with the depth of Verizon's commitment to this, evident by its nabbing of an actual board seat, we wouldn't be surprised to see LiMo-based products actually go beyond its Any Apps, Any Device initiative and get real on the carrier's official lineup.
SFR wants its MTV -- in the form of a 3G phone
France's SFR has announced that it'll be launching a Modelabs-sourced handset that appeals to the younguns (and the young at heart) later this month. What feature of the so-called "MTV3.3" slider gives away the target demo, exactly? A plethora of MTV branding, naturally -- the second such device to launch on SFR, following the MTV3.0 touchscreen candybar -- with logos on the phone's shell and packaging, themes, media, bundled MTV Cribs game, and direct access to the hip network's video content. It takes some horsepower to effectively stream video, of course, and the MTV3.3 delivers thanks to a 3G radio -- which we can only assume is at least a little bit faster thanks to all that red. The most attractive part of this whole deal might be the pricing: €49 (about $77) at the April 23 launch. And no, sorry, if you're not in France, you're not cool enough to find one in your local store.[Via mocoNews]
Details on Archos 606, SFR 3G+ plan revealed
We'd already heard about Archos' deal with France's SFR to build 3G+ into upcoming players, but the folks at PC INPact have now turned up what appears to be some of the firmest details yet of those plans, and the first player to support 'em. That player is supposedly the Archos 606, which is described as being the same size as the Archos 605, but with a screen 1-2 centimeters bigger and a casing that's entirely black (it's also said to boast a 30GB hard drive). Unfortunately, there's no official pictures of the device just yet, but the folks at Archos Lounge have put together the mockup above to feed the speculation in the meantime. As for SFR's plans, it'll apparently offer three different subscription options coming in at €14.90, €19.90, and €29.90 a month ($22 to $46), each of which will let you purchase the device for €249, €199, or €149 ($380, $305, or $230), respectively, or you can simply the player without a plan for €290, or about $460.[Via Archos Lounge, thanks John]
Archos teams with SFR in France for building 3G+ into upcoming players
With the likes of Apple and Garmin taking their respective expertise and pointing it toward the mobile phone world, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Archos is doing something similar. Unfortunately, it's fairly impossible at this stage to figure out what that thing is. All we know is that Archos has struck a deal with France's SFR to integrate 3G+ HSDPA data modems into its players -- a deal that was rumored late last year -- but whether that means beefed up mobile surfing and VoIP, or an all new phone product has yet to be seen. [Thanks, Marien]
Alcatel Lucent, SFR tout successful DVB-SH trial
The first step to deploying fancy, shmancy Europe-wide mobile TV solution is a successful trial, of course, and Alcatel Lucent and SFR are happy to oblige on that end. The infrastructure firm tied up with the French carrier last year to demonstrate that DVB-SH was a viable solution -- despite the fact that SFR is really big on using 3G data for mobile TV, go figure -- by setting up a trial network in southwestern France. How do you fake a satellite-assisted network, you ask? Good question -- turns out it involves letting a helicopter chill way up there with a transmitter and pair it with a handful of repeaters strapped onto some of SFR's existing 3G towers. Basically, the companies found that DVB-SH worked like a champ with repeaters added to "only portions" of SFR's towers, making the setup a cost-effective alternative to DVB-H for wide-scale rollouts. It's still unclear whether SFR's actually interested in getting involved with a production network or whether it's sticking to its data-only guns, but regardless, other carriers are sure to benefit from the findings.[Via mocoNews]
Archos working on SIM card-equipped players?
There's not a whole lot to go on here, but according to France's Challenges magazine, Archos is set to further expand its linup-up of players next year with some new SIM card-equipped models. While there's no indication that the devices will actually double as a phone, you will apparently be able to at least get in some 3G-enhanced web browsing, which would certainly be more convenient (albeit pricier) than tracking down WiFi hotspots each time you're out and about. Also according to Challenges, it seems that both France's SFR and Neuf-Cegetel are "starting to look very closely" at Archos' gear, although that's obviously still as up in the air as the rumored device itself.[Via Archos Lounge, thanks JohnBe]
HTC P4550 "Kaiser" gets name, meet the HTC TyTN II
The GCF (Global Certification Forum for GSM and UMTS devices) has just approved the naming for HTC's upcoming flagship monster: the handset formerly known as Kaiser. OK, the naming is just getting silly with HTC devices, with the P4550 -- a.k.a. Kaiser -- now getting an extra a.k.a. thrown in as the HTC TyTN II. Sure, the name does make sense as it really just improves on the TyTN we all know and love, but we're thinking the Kaiser or P4550 was just fine. Also mentioned are a few carrier branded names to further muddy the waters with the Vodafone 1615, SFRv1615, the Swisscom XPA1615, and the rumored AT&T 8925 as examples. Manager of handset naming conventions over at HTC seriously has to get off the heavy caffeine doses as his twitchiness is making our heads spin over here.[Via the::unwired]
Dude, it's the "My Oxbow by Sagem" for surfers
We're not really down with the surfer crowd around here, but there's apparently a market for a surfing-themed cellphone -- or at least that's what Oxbow would have us believe. The French purveyor of surf gear has teamed up with Sagem (bringer of a couple uninspiring clamshells to the European marketplace in recent memory) to offer the "My Oxbow by Sagem," a -- you guessed it -- Oxbow-themed phone for the surfer dude / dudette in all of us. Details are slim for the picking, but the squarish candybar is apparently based on the my400, so we don't expect any blockbuster features to be packed underneath its bright blue skin. If nothing brightens your day like a trip to the beach, look for the My Oxbow now on France's SFR network.[Via Shiny Shiny]
Orange, SFR team up to ease parking in Paris
Here in the US of A, we like to do things the old fashioned way. Case in point: when we're looking for a way to track availability of parking spaces in real time, we turn to satellite radio for the answer (okay, fine... bad example). In France, Carriers Orange and SFR have teamed up with NavX, V-Traffic, and a number of other firms to take an arguably simpler approach to the problem. A new feature on Orange's portal (and we're guessing SFR's as well) enables users to search for nearby parking garages with available spots; cell triangulation can estimate the phone's position, or the user can enter a location manually. Of course, only garages explicitly participating in the system will be listed, but seeing how everyone has a phone, we could imagine the holdouts losing business at a brisk pace.[Via The Wireless Report]
