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Is The iPhone A Dud In Germany?

Apparently being dubbed Times' invention of the year is not impressing the Germans. Sales of Apple's iPhone in Germany are way below predictions, with T-Mobile moving only 700 of them per day.

T-Mobile said it sold 10,000 iPhones the first day the device became available and was relatively pleased with this figure. In comparison, the iPhone sold about 270,000 units the first weekend it was available in the U.S. Teutons, however, do not appear to be as impressed with the iPhone as Americans, and that is all too clear with the less than titanic sales figures dribbling in. According to Financial Times Deutschland, nary 700 Germans are walking into T-Mobile stores each day and buying the darling device from Apple. T-Mobile was expecting more like 10,000 per day. Eek.

The reasons could be many.

First, only days after the iPhone was released in Germany, T-Mobile rival Vodafone sued the company claiming its practice of only selling the iPhone locked with a contract was against the law. Vodafone was granted a temporary injunction, and T-Mobile was forced to sell unlocked versions of the iPhone. It priced them at 1000 Euros--more than $1,400--far above the 400 Euro locked price. T-Mobile appealed the injunction and was granted relief when an administrative judge sided with the mobile arm of Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile resumed sales of locked iPhones immediately. But the damage had been done.

After the initial burst of interest, sales have slid down the tubes, as they say. According to reports, T-Mobile is considering suing Vodafone for damages.

But there's another reason iPhone sales could be off to a slow start in Germany. Germans might not like it. Many German markets may not have EDGE data services available. They may have GPRS 2G and UMTS/WCDMA 3G, but not the 2.5G EDGE network that the iPhone runs on here in the U.S. I've used the iPhone on a GPRS network, and can confirm that it is awful to use at those speeds. GPRS, which is slower than EDGE, kills the iPhone's usability entirely. The mobile Web, YouTube and email programs are practically useless.

If this is what the German iPhone-using public is experiencing, bad word of mouth is likely traveling faster than the iPhone data is.

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