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Since in Italy both Vodafone and Tim are providing the iPhone 3G without any phone/sim lock, starting from July 21st you can get the iPhone 3G at a very competitive price, without having to pay the 499,00 euros for the 8GB version (for example) all at once.

On July 21st Vodafone will launch in Italy “Vodafone Telefono Facile”, at the following conditions:

• iPhone 3G 8GB: € 199,00

• iPhone 3G 16GB: € 269,00

then you have to pay € 9,00 / month for 24 months. The cool thing is that the iPhone is unlocked, as reported by many forums and users.

This means that with a total of € 415,00, paid comfortably, you have a 8GB iPhone 3G with a minimum immediate disbursement of only € 199,00 and you can use it with your operator like, in my case, “3″ or even the other italian mobile operator Wind (no 3G, though). A bargain for many people (anyway, over 30K iPhone sold in the first 24h in Italy).

UPDATE: it seems this offer is bounded to the subscription of a plan by Vodafone… ooops…

(image courtesy MacCityNet)

Technorati Tags: Apple, iphone, luca filigheddu, Mobile, vodafone

What is gonna happen if the giant mobile operator Vodafone acquires Tiscali, one of the biggest service providers in Europe? Vodafone is already working hard to push to the market an advanced FMC offering for the consumer and business market, hence this would surely be a strategic acquisition for them. 

Moreover, Vodafone bought Tele2 Italy and Spain some time ago, too. The main advantages Vodafone would get from this further acquisition are, to me, the following:

1) Immediate access to the wide DSL customer base of Tiscali as well as their customers for telephony

2) The opposite, that is Tiscali could easily leverage the HUGE Vodafone customer base, over 170M customers

3) Integration: tight integration between VoIP, DSL access and Mobile offering.

4) While Vodafone is strong in the business market, Tiscali isn’t. A benefit for Tiscali.

5) In countries like Italy, where Tiscali’s headquarters are, a great advantage in terms of competition towards Telecom Italia and Tim.

Let’s stay tuned. People close to Vodafone told me that the first formal signs of interest have been submitted to the mobile operator already.

Technorati Tags: luca filigheddu, tele2, vodafone

Vodafone announces today the availability of the Apple iPhone for their customers later this year. 

The countries involved are: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. 

This means that Tim will not be the only operator in Italy to offer the iPhone, that is a big deal in terms of competition. Great news for customers.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iphone, luca filigheddu, tim, vodafone