Europe

Join in the Eurovision party with the official Eurovision app for iOS

By Richard Devine, Tuesday, May 14, 2013 a 4:41 pm

This week sees Europe's annual cheese-fest, otherwise known as the annual Eurovision Song Contest. About this time every year, contenders from across Europe descend upon the nation that won the year before, and prepare to do battle in the Euro-pop arena. I'm not a fan myself, but plenty of folks are -- around 100 million people are expected to tune in to watch the contest live. And, to enhance the experience a little further, is the official Eurovision Song Contest app for iOS.

Free - Download Now

Competitors who aren't Apple lodge antitrust complaint against Google in Europe

By Joseph Keller, Tuesday, Apr 9, 2013 a 11:40 am

Google competitors have lodged an antitrust complaint against the company with the European Union. Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, and others, all under the name Fairsearch Europe, have alleged that Google is using Android’s dominant market position to provide an advantage for Google apps.

Base European App Store prices rise from €0.79 to €0.89

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 a 6:56 pm

According to numerous European readers, the lowest App Store price tier has just changed from €0.79 to €0.89 (to put that in rough perspective, imagine the U.S. base price going from $0.99 to $1.12). Whether that reflects updated exchange rates or other factors of doing business in Europe, including taxes and other charges, is unknown at this time.

If you're seeing higher prices in your local App Store, let us know what they are, and what the difference is.

UPDATE: Federico Viticci of MacStories has confirmed price changes in 15 countries, and a switch to local currencies in 8.

BlackBerry maker RIM meets Apple half-way on nano-SIM design

By Simon Sage, Friday, May 18, 2012 a 11:49 am

RIM recently proposed a new nano-SIM card design to counter one proposal made by Apple to the the European Telecommunications Standards Instititute.

iOS gamers spend five times more money on games than Android gamers

By Simon Sage, Monday, May 7, 2012 a 2:19 pm

Most players on iPhone and iPad tend to spend more money than those playing on an Android device -- five times more, to be exact. This according to a Newzoo study that examined the growth of mobile gaming in Europe and North America. It showed that there are now 101 million American mobile gamers, 69% of which are playing on smartphones and 21% play on tablets. Of them, iPhone claimed 19 million gamers, which is 28% of everyone that plays games on a smartphone. Surprisingly, the iPod touch managed to snag nearly as many with 18 million players. As you might expect, the iPad rocks the tablet gaming world with 12.7 million gamers (a 60% slice of the whole tablet pie).

New iPad launches in South Korea and a dozen more international markets

By Simon Sage, Friday, Apr 20, 2012 a 11:44 am

As expected, the third wave of Retina-grade iPads are hitting a few more international markets today. Now South Korea, Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela can enjoy the latest and greatest iOS tablet.

Apple pushing nano-SIM standard on Motorola, RIM and Nokia

By Simon Sage, Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012 a 11:00 am

Apple is butting heads with RIM, Motorola, and Nokia over the next evolution of SIM card sizes. After paving the way for the micro-SIM format, which has since been adopted by Nokia for their Lumia series, Apple is now putting pressure on the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to recognize their nano-SIM format as the next industry standard.

Apple claims Motorola used FRAND patents to try an extort cross-licensing deal

By Simon Sage, Tuesday, Mar 13, 2012 a 3:00 pm

According to some EU court documents, Motorola and Apple had talked about hashing out a licensing deal in late 2011. Given their rough and ongoing patent battles, it's no surprise to hear Apple claim in the documents that their "refusal to accede to this demand led Motorola Mobility to sue Apple in an attempt to exclude Apple’s products from the market.”

European iPhone 4S pricing round up

By chrisoldroyd, Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 a 5:42 pm

Apple has announced some of its European launch pricing for the iPhone 4S. The countries with pricing available are the United Kingdom, France and Germany. These are the countries that will get the iPhone on October 14 with pre-orders starting on October 7. The prices are for a SIM free unlocked iPhone 4S and cell service would have to be taken out separately.

United Kingdom

iPhone 4S 16GB £499.00

iPhone 4S 32GB £599.00

iPhone 4S 64GB £699.00

France

iPhone 4S 16GB €629.00

iPhone 4S 32GB €739.00

iPhone 4S 64GB €849.00

Germany

iPhone 4S 16GB €629.00

iPhone 4S 32GB €739.00

European Carriers Not Happy about Apple's Proposed Built-In SIM

By George Lim, Saturday, Nov 20, 2010 a 10:28 am

European carriers are reportedly warning Apple that if Apple goes ahead with plans for custom, built-in SIM cards for future generations of the iPhone. the carriers may refuse to subsidise the iPhone altogether.

The cost of the iPhone without a carrier subsidy is around $600 and estimations say that global sales may drop by around 12% if the phone isn't subsidised. Some of the carriers known to have concerns include: