Back in January, before iPhone 3.0 made MMS an impending feature for all (carrier depending!), Jose sent us word that Vodafone Portugal had launched their own iMMS app. Well, now Jose is back and so is Vodafone Portugal.. with Mobile TV:

an application to watch TV from the iPhone. The download is free but after that you have to pay a subscription. One day is 0,89€, one week is 1,97€ (first week free), one month is 7,44€ (first month free).

So is this another case of a carrier leading where Apple will one day soon follow? They have announced new live streaming capabilities in 3.0…

Screen shots after the break.

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Vodafone Portugal Launches Mobile TV App

Reader Jose wrote in to tell us that MMS has finally come to the iPhone! Er… Sorta:

since yesterday, vodafone Portugal has a MMS app for the iPhone! It looks like the mail app and it works very well! It’s awesome, you can send and recieve MMS.. but it only works on iPhones from vodafone Portugal! It’s called iMMS!

We’ve heard about European-localized iPhone MMS apps before, but this appears to be the first on to actually become officially available [iTunes Portugal App Store Link].

Full screenshot gallery after the break, but we gotta ask: anyone here want a version for their country?

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iMMS Comes to the iPhone… in Portugal!

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!

Rogers/Fido Canada – WAR!

On the Canadian front (and yes, it is a war here people!) rumors of an Apple/Rogers falling out are probably going to fall out. My guess? Nothing much there unless Rogers is fanning the scarcity flame in order to get people who might be sitting on the fence or holding it to suddenly panic and rush the line on Friday. Apple Stores in Canada, unlike the US, have only pointed to Rogers/Fido for availability, and if Apple is sending units away from Canada to Europe, it may have more to do with the power of the Euro. (Nintendo’s been accused of doing that with the Wii for months to profit from the stronger currency).

Telcel Mexico

2 year contracts south of south of the border in Mexico as well: MX$459/599/799 for 200/300/400 min., 100/150/200 SMS and MBs of data, with the 8GB handset going for MX$3419/2159/889 and the 16GB for MX$4689/3419/2159.

Ayaiyai! That’s US$77 for a tiny 200MB!

Vodafone New Zealand

The good news? Due to the international date line, New Zealand will be getting the iPhone first and Hawaii last. In Aukland, New Zealand, the lineup is already forming to be the first (after a certain Portuguese un-boxer) to get the blessed device.

The bad news? They’ll be paying out the pouch for it. 2 year contracts for NZ$80/130/250 for 120/250/600 min., 600 SMS, and 250/500/1000MB of data and 8GB handsets for NZ$549/449/199 and 16GB for NZ$699/599/359.

Ouch! That’s US$189 for 1GB of data! Once again, the closer you are to a pole, the higher your prices!

Optimus Portugal

Thanks to Mário for sending this in!

Optimus (Orange) in Portugal has pre-paid, post-paid monthly, and 2-year contract prices. Contract minimum monthly usage plans are €30/45/64 which get you €0.149/0.129/0.099 per minute or SMS, 100/300/500 free in-network SMS, and MB of data, with the 8GB handset running €250/200/150 and 16GB, €350/300/250.

Vodafone Portugal

Meanwhile, Vodaphone is offering the Portuguese 2 year contracts as well: €29.90/44.90/64.90, with 100/230/500 min. and SMS, and a miserly 250MB of data, with an 8GB handset going for €299/219/129 and 16GB for €389/309/219.

Yikes! That’s US$102 for 250MB?!

AT&T USA

AT&T Mobility’s President of Network Services has his own podcast where he goes over iPhone 3G performance. Check it out.

And while nowhere near as hackneyed as the iReady riff, Apple has posted its own information on how to prepare yourself for launch day.

Apple’s VP of Retail, Ron Johnson, tried to set expectations: he claims they’ll be taking 30 customers at a time, be able to handle 100 customers an hour, and aim to complete activation in 10-15 min. But they won’t rush you if you want to take your time (though the crowd behind you, torches and pitchforks in hand, might help keep you moving at a brisk pace!)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3G International Roundup! USA, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, Portugal!

French iPhone exclusive, Orange, has just added to the iPhone country count by announcing a deal to bring the (presumably next-gen 3G version) device to:

Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Orange’s African markets later this year.

France Telecom spokesman Bertrand Deronchaine said Orange will be the exclusive iPhone provider in Belgium and Romania, with co-exclusive or non-exclusive deals in other countries. He declined to offer more details about the arrangement.

What might that portent, if anything, for the US, UK, France, Germany, and Ireland?

Table shattering score card now link list:

Launched: Austria (T-Mobile), France (Orange), Germany (T-Mobile), Ireland (O2), UK (O2), USA (AT&T) 

Announced: Africa (Orange), Argentina (America Movil), Australia (Vodafone / SingTel),  Austria (Orange), Belgium (Orange), Brazil (America Movil), Canada (Rogers), Chile (America Movil), Columbia (America Movil), the Czech Republic (Vodafone), Dominican Republic (America Movil/ Orange), Ecuador (America Movil), Egypt (Vodafone / Orange), El Salvador (America Movil), Greece (Vodafone), Guatamala (America Movil), Honduras (America Movil), India (Vodafone / SingTel), Italy (Vodafone / Telecom Italia), Jamaica (America Movil), Jordan (Orange), Mexico (America Movil), New Zealand (Vodafone), Nicaragua (America Movil), Paraguay (America Movil), Peru (America Movil), Philippines (SingTel), Poland (Orange), Portugal (Vodafone / Orange), Puerto Rico (America Movil),  Romania (Orange), Singapore (SingTel),  Slovakia (Orange), South Africa (Vodafone), Switzerland (Swisscom / Orange), Turkey (Vodafone), Uruguay (America Movil)

Rumored: Netherlands (?),

Note: Extent of America Movil and Orange Africa deployment not yet fully detailed.

So, with the board filling up like the cable car to WWDC, the question remains: who’s next?

(PS: We’re not claiming iPhone Candyland… yet.)

Read Via + Via

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iPhone Risk: Orange EMEApalooza!

Figures. Right after I go to all the trouble of cut and pasting together an April iPhone Risk Roundup, Vodafone goes ahead and announces 10 more countries, more than doubling the amount of countries having, or set to have, the iPhone! Apple Insider goes on locations:

“Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network,” the carrier said in a statement without providing further detail.

A look at our newly overpopulated score board:

Vodofone, of course, owns Verizon in the US, which is rumored to have taken a pass on Apple’s iPhone, leading to the current AT&T exclusivity deal. Back with a vengeance much?

Like the Canadian detail-free announcement from Rogers, it’s also likely these deals will involve the as-yet-unannounced-but-widely-expected 3G iPhone, though given the rest of the world’s 3G-centricity, it certainly should. Also unknown is whether these will be the exclusive deals involving revenue sharing and pressure towards unlimited data plans Apple pioneered with the initial iPhone launch last year.

What do you think?

(PS – Apple, help a blogger out and release more of your little flag circle icons. Those things don’t Photoshop themselves, b’okay?)

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iPhone Risk: And Then There Were 17!