Hungary to get Apple iPhone 3G by close of 2008

One of the demands of Hungarian Apple lovers has been heard. Hungary will be among the countries to offer Apple's low-priced, feature-rich 3G iPhone sometime in 2008, announced Apple representatives in California last Monday. Until now, legal iPhones were unavailable, and true Apple fans bought "cracked" versions.

With the latest announcement, the black market will be unnecessary. Apple said it will launch the lower-priced, faster phone on July 11 in the United States, Japan and Western Europe, while to the disappointment of Hungarian Apple fans, releases in Central and Eastern Europe will happen a later, sometime before the close of 2008.

The iPhone combines a fast 3G wireless computer, mobile phone, camera and widescreen iPod into one slim, black gadget. It will retail at $199 in the United States, half the price of the first iPhone. Retail prices for Hungary have not yet been released.

Nevertheless, this is the first concession Apple connoisseurs have received after publicly airing their long list of demands during a campaign called wewantapplehungary.com, started by popular Hungarian blogger József Sasvári.

"Even though we will get the phone six months after Western Europe, it will be worth the wait," said Peter Váró at XMS Electronics in District XIII, a store which sells Apple products. However, he thinks it is unlikely that Apple is selling iPhones in Hungary due to their campaign.

Nevertheless, Váró proudly owns a "We want the mother ship" tee-shirt and has not lost hope that Apple will soon offer other services to Hungarian users, such as a Hungarian-language operating system and access to iTunes. Though when exactly is harder to say.

"It is difficult to get a corporate company like Apple to listen and do something differently. They have a plan," Váró said.

Still he's eager to espouse the iPhone, which he said eagerly, is "a thing that will buzz everywhere on the earth."

Indeed, due to the dramatic price change, the iPhone has dropped from the high-end to the mid-range market. And since it far overshadows competing products offering fewer features, it's likely the masses will respond. Apple founder Steve Jobbs announced that Apple aims to sell ten million iPhone 3Gs by the end of the year.

"I don't think as many people will buy cracked ones at the lower price, I think more people will buy them legally," Váró predicted.

When it launches in Hungary, the only authorized distributor will be T-Mobile Hungary, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

The phone, which is about the size of a candy bar, is more efficient than the smartest multitasking human. Without any user input the iPhone will automatically sync all information - including applications, calendars, contacts - with a host computer, both PCs and Macs, while playing a dvd in full color and taking phone calls. The iPhone has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that will last for up to 10 hours of talk time, comes in two sizes, 8GB and 16GB, topping off the features is a 2 megapixel camera as well.

"It is without any of the flaws of the first version," Váró said. "It is amazing."

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