Nokia’s really on a good-will tip recently. Following on their announcement that they’ll be helping the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) “stimulate growth, create new jobs and generate investment for Bochum and the neighbouring cities” through the “Growth for Bochum” program, Nokia has agreed to pay €1.3 million to NRW in hopes of settling [...]

So, just how did the German threat of legal action fare with the Finns? Well, it seems that Nokia couldn't care less (or couldn't care more, depending on how you look at it) about North Rhine Westphalia's demand for repayment of subsidies. As you might recall, the German state bank, NRW.Bank, recently called upon Nokia [...]

It's clear that Nokia's closing of their German plant has incensed the Germans to no end. Like a crazy girlfriend scorned, the state-owned NRW.Bank has sent Nokia a demand for the return of subsidies provided to open the Bochum plant. Here's the kicker, NRW.Bank wants the subsidies refunded with interest. Germany already demanded the return [...]

It turns out that those “unlocked” iPhones from France’s Orange and Germany’s short-lived unlocked iPhone offering from T-Mobile weren’t really all they were cracked up to be. You see, we had cracked them up to be truly unlocked iPhones capable of surfing any network in the world. Truly unlocked iPhones would have been an international iPhone fan-boy’s wet-dream. Alas, Apple had an Ace up their sleeve - all those unlocked iPhones are apparently still locked to their country of origin. With Germany’s T-Mobile having recently resumed sales of exclusive , locked iPhones, France’s Orange is the world’s only source of Apple-sanctioned “unlocked” iPhones. Unfortunately, enterprising iPhone users thinking about buying an unlocked Orange iPhone and using it in another country will find out the hard way that the 749 Euro unlocked iPhone won’t work outside of France. Apple likely acquiesced to France’s telecom regulations by allowing unlocking iPhones to work with any wireless operator - as long as the non-Orange network was within French borders. Anyone out there actually make a trip to France in hopes of using a fully-operational and firmware-upgradeable iPhone in, say, the US? Our condolences to your wallet. But then again, you should have known better. Apple-unlocked iPhones sounded too good to be true, and it seems it was too good indeed. [Via: iPhone Atlas ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:T-Mobile set to face-off with Vodafone over locked iPhones in Germany - November 29Want an unlocked iPhone? Just go to France. Orange France to sell carrier-unlocked iPhonesT-Mobile victorious over Vodafone - German court overturns injunction; keeps iPhone's locked, exclusive to T-MobileGerman court delays ruling on T-Mobile iPhone injunctionFrance's Orange expects to sell [...]

If there’s one thing that gets people riled up more than details on how well the iPhone is selling, it’s news that the iPhone is out-selling the Nokia N95 in Europe. The iPhone clearly outsells these handsets in the US, but Europe has been regarded as a reluctant market for the iPhone, given it’s lack of critical hardware features. We previously mentioned that the iPhone has shown disappointing sales figures in the UK, but it seems that even “ laggard ” iPhones sales on UK’s O2 network are still outselling rivals. In fact, all three European markets are reportedly seeing sales of the iPhone outpacing those of its closest, and highly subsidized, competitors - a group that includes the HTC Touch , LG Prada, Nokia N95, and Nokia’s E-Series handsets. Michael Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital, is reporting that iPhone sales in the UK, Germany and France have proven strong. He notes “solid European iPhone momentum,” adding that the “iPhone appears to be an early hit with European Smartphone consumers.” Despite selling only 10,000 iPhones on launch day , many of T-Mobile’s 700 German retail stores are reporting 15-20 iPhone sales per week. France’s Orange Wireless, by far the iPhone’s strongest EU market , has reported that approximately 63,000 customers have registered their interest in the iPhone, with reports of some Orange stores running out of iPhone-stock. Most notably, and sure to draw the ire of Nokia fans (especially those with Nokia N95’s - the author excluded), the iPhone has been outselling the feature-packed Nokia N95 in Europe - which has sold 1 million handsets since its launch in March (not a sluggish seller, to be sure). Keep in mind that the iPhone is still only available in three European markets (at least officially) and has largely been sold on-contract and locked to a particular carrier. All these factors led Mr. Abramsky to raise his previous forecast for Apple to sell 12.1 million iPhones in 2008 to a new target of 12.5 million iPhones - higher still than Apple’s own goal of 10 million iPhones. And, this is all before the next-generation iPhone, with 3G in tow, has been officially announced ( brain-farts from AT&T CEOs excepted ). We have to believe that Apple had forecasted sales performance in this range, and has purposely kept details on the 3G iPhone under tight-wraps in an effort to curb cannibalization of current-generation iPhones. [Via: Tech Trader Daily ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Apple iPhone bests Nokia N95, HTC Touch in usability studyiPhone and its rivalsLG Prada phone vs Apple iPhoneHTC ships 1 million HTC Touch handsets in 6 months!HTC Touch Preview Videos - HTC's answer to Apple's iPhone in the flesh

So, with T-Mobile Germany forced to sell unlocked iPhones (at least for now), Debitel’s got a plan to help snatch-up some potential unlocked iPhone customers. Debitel provides its customer with leased network time from its German counterparts, and they’re offering a €600 bonus to all new iPhone customers. The sign-up bonus should help bring the unlocked iPhone’s €999 price tag down to a more manageable €399 - the same price that T-Mobile Germany charges for on-contract iPhones. Debitel’s deal should appeal to Germans interested in an unlocked iPhone but wary of the prohibitively high price point from T-Mobile (which is probably T-Mobile’s intention). But then again, Debitel will probably require iPhone customers to sign a contract to get that €600 sign-up bonus - so the only advantage to signing with Debitel would be that you have an unlocked iPhone once your contract expires. Which would you choose - a T-Mobile locked iPhone with Visual Voicemail and unlimited data for €399, or an unlocked iPhone that’s essentially locked to Debitel’s network sans Visual Voicemail for the same price? Of course, that unlocked iPhone is likely to be obsolete by the time Debitel lets you off their contract. [Via: Engadget Mobile ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:T-Mobile unlocks German iPhones through iTunes - official iPhone unlocking hack on the way?T-Mobile Germany offering unlocked Apple iPhones due to court orderFrance's Orange expects to sell 100,000 iPhones by year-end; sell cheaper unlocked iPhonesT-Mobile set to face-off with Vodafone over locked iPhones in Germany - November 29P990, M600 and W950: UIQ [...]

Nokia sure is one tough bulldog, or legal beagle as the case may be. The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer just won’t loosen that legal-bite around Qualcomm’s foot. After having their patent exhaustion case against Qualcomm thrown out in the Netherlands and Germany , Nokia has filed an appeal with the German regional court in Mannheim. “Nokia maintains that Qualcomm’s patents in question are exhausted and is seeking a declaration from the court affirming that the principle of patent exhaustion applies to patents which are licensed to others in the telecommunications industry,” a Nokia spokeswoman said. We previously said how glad we’d be when Qualcomm finally ties up all its legal loose ends, but by the looks of things, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. With Nokia adamant about getting a court to issue a patent-exhaustion ruling against Qualcomm’s patent portfolio (for which it is charging Nokia as well as Nokia’s chip supplier, Texas Instruments), and Qualcomm’s other legal battles in other countries, it looks like a long, arduous road for the US chipmaking giant. [Via: Reuters ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Broadcom wins appeal for 2005 anti-trust lawsuit against QualcommUS ITC ban on Qualcomm 3G chips put on hold by appeals courtNokia files Patent Exhaustion Case against Qualcomm in EuropeDutch court dismisses Nokia patent case against QualcommMotorola: See you later, Qualcomm, we're going with Texas Instruments

We all know by now that T-Mobile Germany has been forced to offer carrier-unlocked iPhones to its customers. But, until now, we had no idea how Apple and T-Mobile would go about unlocking those 999 Euro (about $1,500 USD) iPhones. Well, thanks to well-heeled iPhone hopefuls with the bankroll and desire to own an iPhone that can work on any GSM network in the world, we now know just how Apple will go about unlocking said iPhones. It seems that Apple’s own iTunes activation-setup has been modified to unlock those premium iPhones upon approval from Cupertino. Anyone looking to purchase an uber-expensive, unlocked iPhone from T-Mobile Germany will be given a run-of-the-mill, locked iPhone.  The IMEI number is sent to Apple for remote-unlocking approval. Within 24 hours, Apple will send the unlocked iPhone owner an email confirming their unlocked status. Then, a simple iTunes-sync will result in a SIM-unlocked iPhone with the v1.1.2 firmware. Pretty simple, eh? We think so too. And, with an Apple-sanctioned unlock method for the iPhone (one that doesn’t risk bricking your iPhone with every firmware update), we figure the iPhone Dev Team is hard at work trying to reverse-engineer the Apple unlock process. If Apple was fool-hardy enough to hide some iPhone-unlocking code into iTunes, the iPhone community could have an official, non-bricking iPhone unlock solution in the near future. We’ll be keeping our ears to the ground on this one, folks. [Via: MacRumors ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:T-Mobile set to face-off with Vodafone over locked iPhones in Germany - November 29Apple fans offer FREE iPhone unlocking service outside AT&T StoreT-Mobile pushes 10,000 iPhones out the launch window, meets goalsiPhone Dev Team announces the free iPhone v1.1.1 software unlocking solution!iPhone Dev Team announces initial iPhone v1.1.1 jailbreak hack

Well, it looks like Vodafone is about to get what they’ve been seeking. The mobile phone carrier has successfully prompted the German government to look into whether or not rival carrier T-Mobile’s iPhone exclusivity deal breaches German wireless regulations. T-Mobile has already complied with the temporary court order, and is offering unlocked iPhones for almost $1,500 - but the upcoming hearing on November 29 may allow T-Mobile to resume selling iPhones locked exclusively to their network. On the flip-side, we could see T-Mobile forced to permanently offer unlocked iPhones to the German masses. Of course, the T-Mobile / Vodafone showdown is scheduled for the same day that France’s Orange will be launching their own iPhone ( November 29 ). We’re expecting Orange to offer unlocked iPhones in order to comply with French telecom regulations for a hefty price - so no matter the German court’s decision, krauts in need of an unlocked iPhone may still be in luck. We’ll be watching this court-battle, stay tuned. [Via: CNN ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:T-Mobile Germany offering unlocked Apple iPhones due to court orderGerman iPhone hopefuls will beat UK fans to the iPhone-punchWant an unlocked iPhone? Just go to France. Orange France to sell carrier-unlocked iPhonesVodafone Germany gets jiggy with Visual Voicemail too - kind ofGermans in a frenzy over impending Apple iPhone release

Well, the iPhone has officially hit European shores today with the launch of the Apple iPhone in Germany, on T-Mobile. While there were probably unlocked iPhones already in Germany, this morning marked the official (read: carrier-supported) iPhone entry into the land of the autobahn. And it seems that Germans, for the most part, have welcomed the iPhone with eager, open arms. T-Mobile has announced that their initial iPhone sales numbers have topped 10,000. In impressive launch-day sales figure to be sure. However, save for a few hundred eager iPhone hopefuls lined up in Cologne, the iPhone-launch-hype that swept the US was largely non-existent in Germany. The Frankfurt T-Mobile store saw a single iPhone fan waiting an hour for the iPhone to launch. Still, with more than 10,000 iPhones sold before the end of launch day, it seems safe to say that the launch was a success. There’s even talk about Christmas demand for iPhones outpacing German iPhone supply. But,  those lucky few official iPhone owners in Germany are now part of the iPhone family. Willkommen! [Via: Apple Insider ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Apple posts iPhone v1.1.2 firmware - yea, greatCarphone Warehouse expecting to hock 10,000 UK iPhones on launch dayGerman iPhone hopefuls will beat UK fans to the iPhone-punchCarphone Warehouse hopes to sell 10,000 iPhones on launch3 million iPhones to be available for launch?