Venezuela, the only Latin American country so far that hasn’t sold Apple’s iPhone 3G, now has it. Movistar (cell phone arm of Spain’s telecom company, Telefonica) began seeling them on Saturday.
• There are 3 monthly plans: 250MB, 512MB and 1GB data plans (no unlimited data).
• The plans allow for 100, 280 and 400 minutes of call time to other Movistar subscribers.
• The plans also allow for 20, 40 and 50 minutes of call time to other carriers.
• The plans also allow for sending 20, 40 and 100 SMS messages.
• The cost for each plan is BsF 89, BsF 135 and BsF 185 (US$41, $63 and $86).
According to Movistar’s press release, there are special iPhone bonuses that will substract BsF 36, BsF 49.5 and BsF 56.25 ($16.75, $23.02 and $26.16) from the monthly fee. New Movistar subscribers will have to keep the selected plan for a full year in order to receive the bonuses.
The prices of iPhone 3G units depend of the data plan selected:
• 8GB iPhone 3G goes for BsF 1.899, BsF 1.799 and BsF 1.699 ($883.26, $836.75 and $790.25).
• 16GB iPhone 3G goes for BsF 2.199, BsF 2.099 and BsF 1.999 ($1.022,79, $976.28 and $929.78)
In Venezuela, prepaid phone plans are extremely popular (buying cellphone credit cards and introducing the code in them before calls can be placed), however, Movistar only offers postpaid plans (charging to a credit card at the end of each month)
The news site Noticias24.com covered the Caracas iPhone 3G launch with a headline that translates to “iPhone madness comes to Venezuela.”
The text says, among other things, that one thousand persons waited for hours (some in line since before dawn) to get their hands on an iPhone 3G. Javier Soriano, Marketing VP of Movistar Venezuela was quoted as saying “my team has been working for 4 months to make this launch possible”, “we expect to activate more than 20 thousand phones in the next 45 days”, and “before the launch we had over 5 thousand reservation requests.”
Full article here.
Movistar Venezuela’s official iPhone page is here.
here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Saldin” for the translation and heads up.]
Is anyone on the MDN team from Venezuela, that was a very extensive coverage, even more than what was published in any local newspaper here in Venezuela!
Wow, the cost! Some people *really* want an iPhone…
Maybe Hugo Chávez will buy every Venezuelan an iPhone with the country’s oil money, or do they smell too much of sulfur?
The iPhone will bring world peace, and expanded opportunities for dialog among world leaders. Apple’s innovation in technology has pushed foreign relations out of the bronze age, and into the 21st century.
And then we woke up… Sigh.
HA HA HA I can now imagine a HUGE amount of monkeys from the socialist government getting the most awaited “Capitalist-Phone” !!!
*****NEWS UPDATE*****
President Hugo Chavez has just nationalized all iPhones.
This includes those in shipment, in stores, already bought, and all future visitors.
Hello??!!!
“Venezuela, the only Latin American country so far that hasn’t sold Apple’s iPhone 3G”
What about the Dominican Republic? We still dont have the iPhone 3G. Orange and Claro (America Movil) announce it after Apple launched it back in June but then, apparently Blackberry’s marketing power ($$) delayed the iPhone’s 3G introduction until 2009.
Both Claro and Orange offer 3G service but only for Blackberrys (and Cellular / USB modems).
I still carry an outdated Sony Ericsson because I refuse to buy a cellphone that’s not the iPhone.
Interesting experiment: Using your iPhone in public in the world’s most dangerous city: Caracas. Death rates leave Bagdad’s in the dust.
I thought the Dominican Republic was part of the Caribbean, not Latin America/Central America.
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@thethirdshoe
FYI…
Latin American countries are generally referred the ones with Spanish and Portuguese as their common language. INCLUDING THE DOMINICAN REP.
You can differentiate them geographically as South America, Central America and The Caribbean. (Just in case you didn’t know
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Also note that Spanish and Portuguese is not the only language spoken in the region; there’s Belize, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados etc. who speak English. Together with French spoken in Haiti and some other small islands as their official language.
BTW: Santo Domingo, the Capital of the DR, is the oldest city (as an European settlement) in the whole American continent.
ENOUGH OF GEOGRAPHY CLASS!
How long until Chavez nationalizes Apple Stores in Venezuela?
iPhone in a VERY insecure and/or dangerous country like Venzuela doesn’t make any sense. Movistar should place a warning on the iPhone Box saying:
“Use this device under your own risk”
and may be a booklet showing:
“Tips & Tricks about how to use an iPhone on the way home or work without being assault”
@ La Manzana
Thanks.
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you guys really don’t know squat about venezuela. you don’t even know squat about your own money system. shut up
Algunos de los que escribimos aqui somos venezolanos, y si, es cierto, en venezuela se puede vender el aparato que nos dé la gana. El problema está en poder usarlos y disfrutarlos sin temor a ser agredido.
Estoy segurísimo de que pronto veremos en la prensa local noticias sobre la muerte de personas que fueron asaltadas para robarles el iPhone. Y no es por el hecho de que sea un “iPhone”, sino porque es el aparato que está de moda.
Les deseo desde acá mucha suerte a los amigos que compren dicho celular. Que lo (se) cuiden y lo disfruten. Un abrazo.
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