Saturday, March 15, 2008

Etisalat and iPhone ??

Guys I heard a rumour and I need a confirmation from all the geeks in Egypt

The rumour is that :

Etisalat Egypt ;the third mobile phone operator in the country; made a deal with Apple to release iPhone exclusively in Egypt in summer !!??

Yay or Nay

I forget to tell you that I saw iPhone face to face in Cairo and it was a quick encounter , as the rest of the apple products family it looks so slim and beautiful but I was surprised to know that the US version has no support for 3G , does this mean there will be no support for 3G in other countries or what ??

iPhone reached to Egypt , I heard another news that it is available for L.E 4000 "$800" !! You can hack it easily , already I found an article in monthly English Speaking magazine "Campus" about this , about hacking iPhone , I though this was illegal to speak about in our press !!??

Anyhow please tell me it you know whether Etisalat is going to release iPhone or what ??

Update "18/9/08" : Check this updated post about iPhone in Egypt :)

19 comments:

  1. الهاتف موجود بالفعل منذ مدة في مصر ويقوم البعض بتحميل سوفت وير وكسر تلك المشكلة لكي يتوافق مع نظام الشبكة في مصر ولا توجد لدي أي معلومات عن إتفاق إتصالات مع شركة أبل من عدمه
    خالص الود والتحية لسموك

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  2. I don't think this news is true, till now u can't use an U.S iPhone version in Egypt without reinstall its software
    --
    hope u r fine

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  3. @أفندينا
    و الله يا و لى النعم انا اتمنى ان ابل
    تتفق مع اى حد تانى غير اتصالات

    @Saad Alshater, I am fine thanks and beside this post I want to say that I wish insh Allah that your dad and all those innocent men will be free soon insh Allah
    about the iPhone , well I heard that some people brought it back from the UK , it was released there still I wish that this news is false

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  4. We have a USA contract with T-Mobile, because they were the first mobile company to offer GSM with worldwide roaming. I don't know if that's what you mean by 3G. But Apple iPhone was only offered with an AT&T contract in the USA.

    We decided to go with the iTouch which has all the iPhone extras, without the bother of the phone and AT&T contract. The iTouch is very nice and a great replacement for an iPod. Our kids decided to buy Blackberries to replace their old phones. My phone is about 5 years old now and I still love it.

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  5. @Vagabondblogger, GSM if I am not mistaken is the 2nd Generation, the 3G is the 3 generation , here is its page in wikipedia :
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G
    sorry if it is a bit technical , I know that the difference between 3G and 2G that in 3G you have Video Calls ,have TV channels on your mobile , have WiFi access "already this feature in iphone" with other features
    in Egypt we do not have this kind of exclusive contracts like in the U.S ,in fact if what I heard was true then it will be the firs time
    I do not like the blackberry because it is too big
    I have just changed my mobile phone from short time ,the older time stayed with me for 4 years, I am kind of emotional person who is attached to her stuff

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  6. @Zeinobia You are mixing up between 2G and 3G and GSM. 2G and 3G are mainly data transfer speeds, which can be read more about on the wikipedia link you have just pasted in your previous comment.

    The iPhone currently only support 2G, and nothing more.

    With 3G, you can of course get streaming Video (TV channels and Video Calls) and download at higher speeds, all thanks to do faster data transfer technology.

    Having Wifi does not mean the phone is 3G. Wifi is totally a different story. For example, the Nokia 9500 has Wifi but is not 3G, and the Sony Ericsson Z750i is 3.5G (YES IT IS), and does not have Wifi.

    Getting back to iPhone in Egypt. You must be aware that in the middle east we are missing the major base of Apple for the iphone and the ipod touch which is the iTunes Store. Without this, it does not make sense to launce the iphone in Egypt.

    The second thing missing will be the iPhone's voicemail system, which is something special too.

    If you only check where the iPhone's are launched officially, the country does have an iTunes store.

    So first of all let's see where will the iTunes store launch first in the ME and then worry about the iPhone. My best bet will be in Dubai, in cooperation with Rotana. Consequently, the iPhone will be launched first in Dubai as well, in cooperation with Etisalat.

    However, iPhone in Egypt still has a long way, and if you want to buy a phone soon, look for something else (a personal piece of advise).

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  7. @JPierre, thanks for the clarification , to tell you the truth I felt lost in Wikipedia page
    About the iPhone , but does not Apple have now in Cairo and Giza show rooms , they even opened a new big training center called Tarkeeb I guess . I think that the Apple store in Gamat Al Doul got iphone accessories !!??

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  8. @Zeinobia The choice is yours.

    Yes they have showrooms, but iPhone is not ready in Egypt.

    These showrooms are of resellers like Best buy and Appleline, but not Apple themselves.

    Just for the record. The iPhone does not have Arabic support. Hacked iPhones are extremely problematic to upgrade the software.

    Once again, if you want a phone, look for something else.

    Just for the record, I'm an apple freak, and have given the iPhone a spin. It ain't ready yet.

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  9. @JPierre, Arabic support is another important issue ,already I was just wondering , I am kind of a Nokia girl still iphone like the rest of apple products is an eye candy

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  10. @Zeinobia... If you think that all Apple products are Eye Candy, you are totally mistaken :)

    The iPhone, might be so for the Middle East region, but not the rest of the Apple products.

    The MacBook Pro, is rated the best Laptop to run Vista.
    The Mac Pro, probably the fastest desktop ever.

    And the list can go on, with the Software (the Mac OS X 10.5) which is way ahead of any other OS, the iPods and etc...

    However, let's not forget that the iPhone is the best selling phone in the US for 2007.

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  11. @JPierre, I know how wonderful Apple MacBooks are but their prices in Egypt are not wonderful at all ,I do not find a good reason to buy 20,000 L.E laptop

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  12. Macbooks are not for LE 20K. Visit that Apple resellers :)

    And for the iPhone, the Etisalat rumors are false, actually this is good news for me. I am not sure what will happen yet with the iTunes stores though.

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  13. @JP , I know and I knew from your blog about the vodafone ,I swear I will switch as soon as they release insh Allah , I had enough with Mobinil
    I tried to comment but your catchpa was down

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  14. ok guys maybe am a bit late
    anywayz
    The deal will be between Mobinil and Apple to release the Iphone
    that's confirmed on the IPhone website
    http://www.apple.com/iphone/countries/eg/

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  15. Hey Ahmed , I know about and I even wrote a post that will published today regarding this matter , thank you so much for sharing

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  16. Is There any updates on this ??
    Im Getting tired of waiting for the iphone to officially be in egypt and im thinking about getting a jail-broken one for $400 ..

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  17. @arabsquad , I wrote an update for this
    http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/08/egypts-iphone-page-in-applecom.html

    ReplyDelete

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