WOW! iPhone plans and prices are dropping faster than Rogers stock these days. With a 22 country launch on Friday (and a few days later in France — vive la difference, eh?), some with multiple co-exclusive carriers, each with different tiers of service (from cheap, all-you-can-eat unlimited to tiny $$$ per byte ultra-rip-offs) it’s a lot to keep track of — but we’re still going to try!
Read on for the good, the bad, and a lot of ugly!
Not to be outdone by the Kings of Hong Kong, Mexico’s Telcel has also revealed what they’re going to be beating, piñata-style, out of the subscribers for the honor of owning El Jobso’s iPhone 3g.
Low end plans start at US$36 for 200 min, 100 SMS, and 100MB of data (!), with US$311 for the 8GB handset and US$434 for the 16GB
High end tops out at US$79 for 700/250/Unlimited data with a FREE 8GB handset or $123 for the 16GB.
Strangely the middle plans offer paltry 150MB/200MB data caps for $49 and $59, while $79 nets you unlimited?!
Still, Mexico seems to have landed much closer to AT&T’s side of North America than Rogers…
Thanks to Keith for the tip!
First Canada, then 10 Vodafone-serviced countries spanning Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, now Engadget brings word that Mexico-based America Movil has announced it will be bringing the iPhone not only to its own home town, but to potentially all the 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries/territories/protectorates it provisions!
These include Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, the United States (almost certainly off limits because of AT&T), Guatamala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Chile.
And the Phone Different Jumbotron now reads:
| Europe | North Am. | South Am | Asia | Africa | Oceania | Antarctica | Total | |
| Launched | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Announced | 5 | 2 | 15? | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 26 |
| Rumored | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 12 | 5 | 15? | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 36 |
As with the other recent announcements, no details were provided as to when, how much, or whether or not there would be exclusivity or anything approaching special (read: reasonable) unlimited data plans. It also leaves another pressing question:
Who’s next?!
Apple Insider points us to two fresh rumors on iPhone launches. First up, in what could be the second North American appearance of El Jobso’s revolutionary little phone:
The Mexico City newspaper El Universal alleged on Thursday that multiple dialogs with Apple support would have the iPhone launch on Mexican carrier Telcel in June, in time for Apple’s planned version 2.0 firmware.
Next, a potential sixth (6th!) launch for the mighty Europe, this time in the Netherlands:
Meanwhile, Dutch Apple reseller The Innovators also posted teasers the same day for a special event to take place on March 29th at 11AM local time. The third-party store was mum on details but dropped hints that it would present on a product that had previously been unsold in the Netherlands and would make it easy to place calls.
Admittedly pretty thin, if any of these rumors come true, it would bring our score to:
| Europe | North Am. | South Am | Asia | Africa | Oceania | Antarctica |
| 6? | 2? | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Could Mexico and the Netherlands be getting their multi-touch on come June? Or are these the weakest rumors yet? What do you think?
  
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The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
