Aidan MalleyFollowing word from individual carriers of wider regional launches, Apple has posted a bevy of new job opportunities that allude to multi-carrier strategies in some — but not all — of the iPhone's new territories.
In Australia, posts for a Lead Carrier Certification Engineer and a Field Validation Engineer both have any prospective candidates heading up the approval of iPhones with "Cellular Carriers," according to Apple, potentially making Vodafone's deal just one among others.
The new vacancies lend support to a rumor circulated late last week of a deal with Optus that also claimed the carrier wouldn't have exclusive access to the iPhone. This claim also had Optus announcing its strategy in mid-May, or within weeks of both the new multinational announcements and Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in mid-June.
A similar pattern is emerging with job listings for Brazil. Apple job entries for Carrier Certification Engineers in lead and general roles, as well as a third for a Field Test Engineer, also indicate that any of the future employees will be asked to help approve the touchscreen handsets for more than one provider.
The South American country has so far only been given iPhone support from America Movil's local division, Claro, but could potentially be served by carriers such as Brasil Telecom, Oi, Vivo, or Telecom Italia's Brazilian operation, TIM Celular. TIM is already poised to offer the iPhone in its native Italy, but hasn't announced any foreign agreements.
Enthusiasts in Mexico may have relatively limited choices, however. A solitary position for a Carrier Certification Engineer in Mexico City only makes mention of a single wireless carrier rather than the plural mentioned elsewhere. This would leave only America Movil's Telcel as the iPhone's supplier in the Latin country. Past rumors haven't suggested multi-carrier deals for the iPhone in the area.
Separately, the Australian listings also make mention of a need for experience with CDMA phone networks as well as GSM, EDGE, and UMTS, but is not believed to relate to the launch of a phone supporting the technology in the country: Telstra, the lone carrier continuing to support CDMA for the island state, shut down the service in late April in favor of its GSM and UMTS networks.
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34 Comments
Oh boy. As this juggernaut relentlessly rolls on, there are surely a few quaking boots and shaking heads in telecom-land.
Oh boy. As this juggernaut relentlessly rolls on, there are surely a few quaking boots and shaking heads in telecom-land.
You make it sound like millions of Imperial Star Destroyers overtaking each country like a quadrant of the galaxy. Only the Google Android rebels have a chance of stopping them. (I'm shutting up now, I'm not even a big fan of Star Wars)
I pray every night that the next day would be the end of the Apple and at&t contract... and it never is.
I pray every night that the next day would be the end of the Apple and at&t contract... and it never is.
Even Steve Jobs has a learning curve .
I pray every night that the next day would be the end of the Apple and at&t contract... and it never is.
No help for you with AT&T, but I'm wondering if the lack of similar "multi-country" announcements from O2/Telefonica, Orange, and Deutsche Telecom is because Apple has said to them "You can sell the iPhone in all the other countries you have networks in, as long as you are willing to drop the exclusive contract you have now".
I mean... it really seems Apple is now signing up the multi-country carriers, and removing exclusivity... and the current setup in Europe hasn't worked so far, so why not make this a carrot for change.
edit: I'm assuming AT&T doesn't have cell networks in other countries.