iPhone Launches in Germany

Another day, another complete lack of surprise as T-Mobile revealed itself to be the exclusive carrier of the Apple iPhone in Germany. The wonder device will launch in Germany on November 9, the same day as O2 begins selling it in the UK.

Customers will be required to sign up to a lengthy two year contract and pay Eur399 for the device, which makes it a tad more expensive than the UK device too. T-Mo has not yet revealed details on the tariffs available but it is likely they will be some variant of the company's successful Web n' Walk plan so as to allow for the expected all you can eat data allowance.

"We are convinced that we can get our customers excited about experiencing the mobile internet with the iPhone," said Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International. By the end of this year, T-Mobile claims it will be the only network operator in Germany to offer EDGE throughout its entire GSM network, accelerating the mobile data transfer rate to over 220Kbps per second. T-Mobile also has 20,000 own-branded wifi hotspots worldwide, of which 8,600 are in Germany.

Meanwhile, after revealing itself as the UK iPhone carrier on Tuesday, O2's website reportdly fell over Wednesday morning in the rush, as 1,500 visitors per second logged on to see when the device is available.