On the other hand…maybe the iPhone won’t be in Slovenia
Numerous articles here have mentioned how the iPhone is on the march across the globe. Well..maybe not everywhere, for logistical reasons. And the bitterness is appearing on the blogs of countries that were not able to host the iPhone.
Here’s a blogger from Slovenia who details why the iPhone may be little more than an impossible dream there: http://www.jurecuhalev.com/blog/2008/09/29/why-slovenia-won%E2%80%99t-get-iphone-anytime-soon/
The short of the story: Lack of wi-fi support, spotty internet coverage in general, and the fact that Google maps would need to be updated due to lack of detail in the area.
You never know, however…countries long thought to be lacking infrastructure have stepped into the digital age the last few years, and Slovenia could be the next to do so.
Related posts:
- iPhone launched in Thailand, but poor 3G network quality mars the product
- AT&T CEO announces plans to expand and improve 3G network
- More about the next iPhone model: It may support faster 3G speeds
Skype for iPad supports video calling and will be released very soon.
These are definitely not the reasons, as all above mentioned is much better covered in Slovenia (except for the Google maps) as in most of other EU member counties, not to mention the third world countries. It is also quite usual in Slovenia, that carriers adopt quickly to some market demands. If a carrier were to negotiate with Apple about the iPhone introduction they would very likely solve their own Wi-Fi and even Google maps problem for the sake of selling such a hyped device.
No one really knows what the reason behind this problem is and so far the most plausible explanation is, that no Slovenian carrier is owned by one of the companies that got the “big” contract. There is one in partnership with Vodafone, but that doesn’t seem enough. On the top of that, Slovenia’s legislation prohibits selling locked phones if there is not an unlocked version also available. This didn’t stop the iPhone in France and Italy, but the size of the market is incomparable.
Not all problems end here. There is no iTunes store available in the country due to legal issues and that is probably the last hit to the iPhone in Slovenia.
Mind that Slovenia (the carrier Mobitel) was the first European country to adopt and offer 3G commercially. It’s practically everywhere by now.