By Last week we broke the news that the Android Market would feature geo-targeting capabilities for developers in new European countries. And since you couldn’t currently purchase an Android based phone in any of said countries, the T-Mobile G1 was presumably facing an imminent release across Europe.
T-Mobile Chief Executive Hamid Akhavan confirmed our assumptions, giving us the following timeframe:
- January 30th: Netherlands, Czech Republic, Austria
- February 2nd: Germany
- Later in February: Poland
So if you live in one of the above countries, its time to get your cheer on… ANDROID IS COMING! Germans have further reason to cheer as the phone will sell for 1 Euro, the equivalent to $1.33 US Dollars. That price sickens me as the T-Mobile G1 costs $179 with 2-year contract in the states.
Are you kidding me? You can get an Android phone for the price of a freaking McDonald’s hamburger in Germany? Anyone who would choose the hamburger needs to rethink their New Year’s Resolutions.
Two more little nuggets of info you might enjoy:
- T-Mobile Chief Executive Hamid Akhavan declined to disclose precise numbers but said the G1 was the most successful phone ever sold in the United States. A number of articles made fun of this notion in hilarious form, but I can’t seem to dig them up now. Feel free to help me out in the comments.
- We’re still waiting for the Cupcake updates and hoping for late January
[Via Reuters]
The G1 was free in the Uk on an 18 month contract.
Haha, I admit Android is great but come on “most successful phone ever sold in the United States”?????
Matt Burns on CrunchGear put it well “until some solid numbers are produced that prove the G1 is “the most successful phone ever sold in the United States,” I will call Mr. Hamid Akhavan a big, fat liar.”
My guess is that he means that for T-mobile, it’s their most successful phone, not the most successful phone ever in the US! That has to be the iPhone (or Razr, I heard that was big in the US too), surely? (Unfortunately!)
Rob if you are going to metaphor it up, just go all out with your McDonald’s reference earlier it was clear oppty to add:
Two more little McNuggets of info you might enjoy:
You can also get an iPhone for € 1 here in Austria. (Don’t know about Germany)…
Wtf? Where’s PORTUGAL dudes?!?! Hey Google wake the fscking up…
Seems that they’ve forgot sweden in their launch plan
In Germany it is usual to get the phone very cheap, BUT you pay it with a higher monthly rate. In many cases it’s actually a zero sum game.
T-Mobile.nl (Netherlands) is already taking orders for the G1, I’ve ordered one this afternoon.
I wonder when it’ll arrive at my doorstep…