There will be no delays as Apple has just confirmed iPad 2 will be available this Friday, March 25 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Just like the US launch, online orders will begin a 1am (they don’t say which time zone?) and in store purchases will be available starting 5pm local time.

While competitors are still struggling to catch up with our first iPad, we’ve changed the game again with iPad 2,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re experiencing amazing demand for iPad 2 in the US, and customers around the world have told us they can’t wait to get their hands on it. We appreciate everyone’s patience and we are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

Apple also announced that iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April.

If you’re having trouble deciding if you want an iPad 2, or which of the 12 models you want (no CDMA versions outside the US), check out our iPad 2 buyers guide and full on iPad 2 review. Then let us know what country you’re in and whether you’re ordering online or lining up!

[Apple PR]

Steve Jobs dropped the July 30 date for next big rollout during the iPhone 4 press conference but now Apple has gone and made it official:

Beginning this Friday, customers can purchase iPhone 4 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4 will be available for purchase through Apple’s retail and online stores and Apple® Authorized Resellers.

Nice to see, but we’d still prefer pre-orders, reservations, Apple Online Store updates to say something other than “coming soon”, official word on when Apple Retail Stores will be open, information from carriers on upgrade eligibility, MicroSIM availability, plans, etc.

You know, everything else required for a launch…!

Apple announced today that the iPad, already released in the US and scheduled for a wider release internationally in May, will be coming to Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore in July.

No word on pre-orders or pricing yet, but Apple says that’s coming at a later date.

If you’re in one of those countries — are you waiting for late July, did you get a US model already, or are you still waiting to be sold on the iPad?

[Apple]

Colossal blunder to be sure, but is it a blunder in content, or was it just made live before it was finished and authorized? Are we seeing the first signs of a real, honest-to-Jobs iPhone 32G? Decide for yourselves, though Engadget reminds us that the original iPhone was prematurely posted by T-Mo Germany two years ago. Could this be the double d’oh!?

(But really, T-Mo, you couldn’t have used a faded out, stock photo of an iPhone 3G there? My eyes. Ouch. My eyes…)

[via AreaMobile]

T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan, speaking to Focus, revealed that Big Magenta(TM) has sold 120,000 iPhone 3G units since it went on sale July 11. The breakdown included 75,000 for Germany with the remainder being gobbled up in the Netherlands and Austria.

This may sound small considering Apple previously reported 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold over launch weekend alone. However, AT&T has said the iPhone 3G was selling twice as fast as last year, which seems in line with these numbers, given T-Mo “only” managed to sell 100,000 of the first generation iPhone 2G during the two previous quarters combined. (Though bringing an EDGE handset to a trans-Euro 3G fight probably wasn’t a winning strategy back then, eh, Apple?)

Add these numbers together with the total 70+ launches scheduled for this year, and the probably huge holiday sales season still to come, and Apple might just make shatter that 10 million sales goal of theirs for this year– if not bite considerably into that rumored 45 million handset order for next…

If they can keep them in stock… and on network. Anyone using an iPhone 3G on T-Mobile? Easy to find on the shelves? Getting good data connections?

(via Ars Technica)

French iPhone exclusive, Orange, has just added to the iPhone country count by announcing a deal to bring the (presumably next-gen 3G version) device to:

Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Orange’s African markets later this year.

France Telecom spokesman Bertrand Deronchaine said Orange will be the exclusive iPhone provider in Belgium and Romania, with co-exclusive or non-exclusive deals in other countries. He declined to offer more details about the arrangement.

What might that portent, if anything, for the US, UK, France, Germany, and Ireland?

Table shattering score card now link list:

Launched: Austria (T-Mobile), France (Orange), Germany (T-Mobile), Ireland (O2), UK (O2), USA (AT&T) 

Announced: Africa (Orange), Argentina (America Movil), Australia (Vodafone / SingTel),  Austria (Orange), Belgium (Orange), Brazil (America Movil), Canada (Rogers), Chile (America Movil), Columbia (America Movil), the Czech Republic (Vodafone), Dominican Republic (America Movil/ Orange), Ecuador (America Movil), Egypt (Vodafone / Orange), El Salvador (America Movil), Greece (Vodafone), Guatamala (America Movil), Honduras (America Movil), India (Vodafone / SingTel), Italy (Vodafone / Telecom Italia), Jamaica (America Movil), Jordan (Orange), Mexico (America Movil), New Zealand (Vodafone), Nicaragua (America Movil), Paraguay (America Movil), Peru (America Movil), Philippines (SingTel), Poland (Orange), Portugal (Vodafone / Orange), Puerto Rico (America Movil),  Romania (Orange), Singapore (SingTel),  Slovakia (Orange), South Africa (Vodafone), Switzerland (Swisscom / Orange), Turkey (Vodafone), Uruguay (America Movil)

Rumored: Netherlands (?),

Note: Extent of America Movil and Orange Africa deployment not yet fully detailed.

So, with the board filling up like the cable car to WWDC, the question remains: who’s next?

(PS: We’re not claiming iPhone Candyland… yet.)

Read Via + Via

Apple Insider reports that, according to T-Mobile, the 3G iPhone is slated for immanent testing in Austria:

Specifically, a German-laguage report in derStandard.at states that officials from the carrier said a “UMTS version” of the iPhone would be made available in Austria “shortly,” and that the country would be one of just a handful to serve as a “testing” ground for the next-generation device.”

Why Austria and, most importantly, why UTMS and not the specific UTMS-extending protocol everyone and their Laporte bandies about in the US, HSDPA?

More controllable territory combined with more widely spread technology standard and deeper market penetration, perhaps? Or is this just T-Com talking out of their collective assumptions again?

What do you think?

The iPhone has now successfully stormed the mobile markets of both the Emerald Isle and the birthplace of the Oak. For those keeping track at home, this brings the official score card to:

(Not counting the massive gray market, ‘natch).

What makes the two newest iPhone launches unique, however, is that while hardware pricing is consistent with other EU countries, it looks like Austrians won’t be loving them some unlimited data any time soon, with T-Mobile caps firmly in place at 3GB. Of course, they’re still better off than their O2 bedeviled Irish launch-mates, who not only get even less data at a miserly 1GB, but also don’t get Visual Voicemail! (We should point out that, according to Apple Insider, use of Visual Voicemail in Austria will also count towards your 3GB of data!)

So are these capped data plans the future of iPhone? Are the European EDGE networks so obsoleted by 3G that they can’t handle more or is Apple being forced to concede on their data demands to get their units into more and more territories?

And now that 5 and 6 are settled, who’s in the running for 7? Apple COO Tim Cook did promise us Asia this year, which makes Japan (who knows about China?) a possibility. What about Australia? Scandinavia? Are we betting on Antarctica before data-gouged Canada? (I am!)

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, ever since the 1.4 firmware dropped, complete with a carrier reference for T-Mobile in Austria, we’ve known who will carry Herr Jobs’ miracle phone into its fifth European country. And now we know when!

Tomorrow, March 14th!

This revelations comes courtesy of Electronista (via Ars Technica) and the ever-lax security of T-Mobile private web pages (hit the aforementioned links for the screen caps).

The 8GB and 16GB versions will be available for €399 and €399 respectively, with rate plans ranging from €39 to €55, depending on the talk-time and SMS package. And unlike the Irish, it reportedly WILL rock Unlimited Data and Visual Voice Mail.

Austrian iPhone fans, better get in line now before the Governator buys them all!