Job listings hint at multi-carrier iPhone in Australia, Brazil

[AppleInsider]

Following 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.

Posted shortly after America Movil and Vodafone announced their international deals with Apple to offer the iPhone, the listings for Australia, Brazil and Mexico all make clear whether new hires are meant to support one or more carriers.

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.

[anantksundaram]

Oh boy. As this juggernaut relentlessly rolls on, there are surely a few quaking boots and shaking heads in telecom-land.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

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)

[SpamSandwich]

I pray every night that the next day would be the end of the Apple and at&t contract... and it never is.

[drjjones]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

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 .

[GregAlexander]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

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.

[MRsneezy]

Is this yet another silly American Statement.

Australia has States.. but is not a State of the USA... We are our own Country

I would have thaught that AppleInsider would get it right.

[yvo84]

Originally Posted by MRsneezy

Is this yet another silly American Statement.

Australia has States.. but is not a State of the USA... We are our own Country

I would have thaught that AppleInsider would get it right.

"A state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area."

The country is a state, but not in the same way the various states are known within the country (like Victoria or New South Wales).

I'll quote wiki:

"Although the term often includes broadly all institutions of government or rule—ancient and modern—the modern state system bears a number of characteristics that were first consolidated in western Europe, beginning in earnest in the 15th century, when the term "state" also acquired its current meaning. Thus the word is often used in a strict sense to refer only to modern political systems.

Within a federal system, the term state also refers to political units, not completely sovereign themselves; however, these systems are subject to the authority of a constitution defining a federal union which is partially or co-sovereign with them. Thus we find the "states and territories of Australia" and the "states" in the United States of America"






Anyway, there's nothing wrong with the article.

[kiwirob]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

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.

Sorry for a lame first post guys, but I have noticed in a few recent posts about Australia it's been referred to as an "island state" or similar.

Just though I'd contribute that with 7,686,850 sq km of land Australia is just slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states. It also resides on it's own tectonic plate and is geologically considered it's own continent. Every time I read "island state" I get a picture in my head of something like Fiji, Tahiti or a small group of tropical islands like Hawaii which it is not.

Being from New Zealand I shouldn't really try stick up for Australia as they steal everything good from New Zealand and claim it for their own but hey?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by yvo84

"A state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area."

The country is a state, but not in the same way the various states are known within the country (like Victoria or New South Wales).

I'll quote wiki:

"Although the term often includes broadly all institutions of government or rule—ancient and modern—the modern state system bears a number of characteristics that were first consolidated in western Europe, beginning in earnest in the 15th century, when the term "state" also acquired its current meaning. Thus the word is often used in a strict sense to refer only to modern political systems.

Within a federal system, the term state also refers to political units, not completely sovereign themselves; however, these systems are subject to the authority of a constitution defining a federal union which is partially or co-sovereign with them. Thus we find the "states and territories of Australia" and the "states" in the United States of America"

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with the article.

And to further back that up, Wikipedia redirects island state to island country, though I was unable to find any usage of the island state refers to use a published example.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by kiwirob

Sorry for a lame first post guys, but I have noticed in a few recent posts about Australia it's been referred to as an "island state" or similar.

Just though I'd contribute that with 7,686,850 sq km of land Australia is just slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states. It also resides on it's own tectonic plate and is geologically considered it's own continent. Every time I read "island state" I get a picture in my head of something like Fiji, Tahiti or a small group of tropical islands like Hawaii which it is not.

Being from New Zealand I shouldn't really try stick up for Australia as they steal everything good from New Zealand and claim it for their own but hey?

Wow! Two first time posters commenting on the same word usage within minutes. Kiwirob cleared it up in an above post, though I'm curious why you think other island nations are acceptable but not Australia. Is it because it is a continent too, or because or its size.

Oddly, we've had some Aussies claim that Australia isn't a continent but a country last week... or vice versa, it was too bizarre to recall correctly.

Welcome to AI MRsneezy and Kiwirob.

[kiwirob]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Oddly, we've had some Aussies claim that Australia isn't a continent but a country last week... or vice versa, it was to bizarre to recall correctly.

Welcome to AI MRsneezy and Kiwirob.

Thanks for the welcome solipsism.

I wouldn't listen to too much to what any Aussies have to say, they are not known for the brains. In fact a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir Robert Muldoon, when asked about the raise in migration of Kiwi's to Australia is quoted as saying,"New Zealanders who emigrate to Australia raise the IQ of both countries." hehe.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Wow! Two first time posters commenting on the same word usage within minutes. Kiwirob cleared it up in an above post, though I'm curious why you think other island nations are acceptable but not Australia. Is it because it is a continent too, or because or its size.

Oddly, we've had some Aussies claim that Australia isn't a continent but a country last week... or vice versa, it was to bizarre to recall correctly.

Welcome to AI MRsneezy and Kiwirob.

Just to chime in ... I was writing a post about the poor word choice myself and then had second thoughts because it is a bit of a trivial issue. But it would have been three separate people complaining in that time frame.

While technically, you can get away with calling Australia an "Island State" no one actually does very often as it's just a dumb way to phrase it. The usage of the term evolved AFAIK as a reference to England, applying it to Australia just to be clever and because (technically) it's still (sort of) accurate just shows that the author hasn't been around that long or is a bit of a novice writer. As wiki says, "Island Country" is more accurate, but that's a term that even less people use.

Why not just forget about making up new terms and stick with "Country," "Continent" or even just "Australia?"

[jadams]

Trying to get the discussion back on track...

This article http://www.stuff.co.nz/4515022a28.html suggests that despite Vodaphone announcing that they are bringing the iPhone to New Zealand, Telecom, the other major carrier here, is also likely to offer the iPhone.

[kiwirob]

Originally Posted by jadams

Trying to get the discussion back on track...

This article http://www.stuff.co.nz/4515022a28.html suggests that despite Vodaphone announcing that they are bringing the iPhone to New Zealand, Telecom, the other major carrier here, is also likely to offer the iPhone.

I think Telecom NZ is trying to play catch up with Vodafone and not succeeding. Telecom NZ currently runs a CDMA network which it's in the process of updating

Last month, Telecom hinted the iPhone could be used on its $300 million 850MHz GSM/Edge network, to be introduced in November.

Why would anybody want to buy a 3G iPhone only to be able to run it on Edge technology?

[bluetongue]

Originally Posted by MRsneezy

Is this yet another silly American Statement.

Australia has States.. but is not a State of the USA... We are our own Country

I would have thaught that AppleInsider would get it right.

You're kidding we've been a client state for years, sport!

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, McDonalds

Let Star Wars begin !

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by kiwirob

Sorry for a lame first post guys, but I have noticed in a few recent posts about Australia it's been referred to as an "island state" or similar.

Just though I'd contribute that with 7,686,850 sq km of land Australia is just slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states. It also resides on it's own tectonic plate and is geologically considered it's own continent. Every time I read "island state" I get a picture in my head of something like Fiji, Tahiti or a small group of tropical islands like Hawaii which it is not.

Being from New Zealand I shouldn't really try stick up for Australia as they steal everything good from New Zealand and claim it for their own but hey?

And in return New Zealanders come over to Aus and steal the women and collect unemployment benefits.

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by kiwirob

I think Telecom NZ is trying to play catch up with Vodafone and not succeeding. Telecom NZ currently runs a CDMA network which it's in the process of updating Why would anybody want to buy a 3G iPhone only to be able to run it on Edge technology?

Because 3G isn't everywhere, but GSM is. If you don't have EDGE, then you get GPRS at a maximum of 80Kbps.

[jfanning]

Originally Posted by merdhead

And in return New Zealanders come over to Aus and steal the women and collect unemployment benefits.

Nope, I think you will find the ability for New Zealanders to claim Aussie benefits was changed a long time ago

[ALPICH]

Originally Posted by kiwirob

Sorry for a lame first post guys, but I have noticed in a few recent posts about Australia it's been referred to as an "island state" or similar.

Just though I'd contribute that with 7,686,850 sq km of land Australia is just slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states. It also resides on it's own tectonic plate and is geologically considered it's own continent. Every time I read "island state" I get a picture in my head of something like Fiji, Tahiti or a small group of tropical islands like Hawaii which it is not.

Being from New Zealand I shouldn't really try stick up for Australia as they steal everything good from New Zealand and claim it for their own but hey?

When I was but a little child at School Australia was always stated as the largest island and the smallest continent. But only about 3 months ago I found out that Australia is no longer considered an island.

One day I am fairly certain that Earth will be a comet, The sun will be just a gas giant and we will find out we are all revolving around a giant space panda bear.

[nvidia2008]

Umm... here in "t3h England" we speak in Asia Pacific... "Island state" is usually used in writing about Singapore, not Australia.

"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." could be better written as:

Telstra, the lone carrier continuing to support CDMA for the continent, shut down the service in late April in favor of its GSM and UMTS networks.

?Eh?

It is interesting to note Telstra supports a massive, rural mobile network. Despite how much I hate Telstra, that part of their service, is probably nothing to sneeze at.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by bluetongue

You're kidding we've been a client state for years, sport!

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, McDonalds

Let Star Wars begin !

Steve Jobs didn't get the memo from Bush and Howard though. ...Maybe Steve's still worried all the iPhone shipments will be stolen by dingos.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by kiwirob

... Why would anybody want to buy a 3G iPhone only to be able to run it on Edge technology?

I think by the end of the year Apple won't be making any 2G phones, regardless of geography.... It will be backwards-compatible (hmm backwards and NZ in the same sentence...hmmm) to 2G. Just kidding about the NZ part...

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by jfanning

Nope, I think you will find the ability for New Zealanders to claim Aussie benefits was changed a long time ago

That's right, they claimed it all and there isn't any left. The women thing I can understand though, there are no women in NZ, only nervous sheep.

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

I think by the end of the year Apple won't be making any 2G phones, regardless of geography.... It will be backwards-compatible (hmm backwards and NZ in the same sentence...hmmm) to 2G. Just kidding about the NZ part...

I think there is room for 2G in a "low end" phone, since it will require a smaller battery and cheaper components, half the patent licensing costs, etc.

"Backwards compatible" refers to which way one is facing, in NZ. I hear everyone is backwards compatible there.

[marcusandree]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

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.

As a Brazilian Electrical Engineer with working experience on Software Engineering and
GSM Networks and AppleInsider reader for a few years, thanks for providing me information
about where to send my resume (I am really applying for this job).

iPhone market mind here in Sao Paulo if somewhat close to frenetic. You can spot it
everywhere, despite not being sold on regular stores, for it is a defice without
certification with local government spectrum controller agency (our version of FCC).

Last month, saw two guys using an iPhone on a rock concert. Yesterday, went to a
cell phone shop to buy a flip for my wife's V3 (sorry guys, she _loves_ the V3...
women! :-). The guy next to me on the line was returning a SIM Card that refused
to work on his iPhone (hope he bought a unlocked device or he knew the right
procedure to get the job done).

But, overall, most Brazilians can't afford to buy an expensive phone like this.
Apple will have lots of users with bucks to spend, but it won't see an expressive
market usage.

Money here is not spent on electronic goods, but on housing, food, transportation
and medical care. People who can afford such a device are highly educated businessmen
or technicians.

Nevertheless, being an Apple "funatic" (my first computer, an Apple ][c is still in operational conditions
somewhere in my closet), I'm thrilled for this launch, as it may lead to exposing the Apple brand
to more users, turning them into "switchers" to the Mac platform.

A final advice. Please, Apple, think about planning a plant to _assembly_
the products locally. The huge price gap that stand behind local
Apple prices and the competition will decline and sales will increase sharply.

A final prevision about PA Semi:

- tablet Mac (aka Newton strikes back)
- game console, integrated with iPhone (wireless joystick, with
visual feedback or even iPhone users running stripped down
multiplayer games)

Thanks for reading.

Marcus Andree, technically oriented miracles maker.

Apple ][c 128KB
Powermac 6500 300MHz/128MB/20GB
Powerbook G3 266MHz/512MB/40GB
Powerbook G4 866/640MB/80GB
MacMini 1.86GHz/1GB/80GB

[icebox_br]

Originally Posted by marcusandree

As a Brazilian Electrical Engineer with working experience on Software Engineering and GSM Networks and AppleInsider reader for a few years, thanks for providing me information about where to send my resume (I am really applying for this job).

Go, Marcus!

I am also a brazilian Mac and iPhone user (on TIM's network). I also own an iPod, a MacBook, two Minis and am planning on switching my entire business to Macs (really easy, just 5 computers).

I would really love not be an outlaw anymore and use my iPhone with more pride than I already do.

I wish you the best luck on getting this job at Apple. I have friends over there, one in São Paulo, other in Apple Latin America (Miami, FL).


Best regards,
_iCeb0x_

[solipsism]

Not that anyone cares, but I'll be heading to Brasil for 6-9 months to learn Portuguese and travel next year. I'll have a flat in Sao Paulo and then will travel around S. America from that "command center. I've heard stories about the crime so I'm not to keen to bring down my valued and much needed electronics. Except for my Tom Tom which doesn't have street maps of the country.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Not that anyone cares, but I'll be heading to Brasil for 6-9 months to learn Portuguese and travel next year. I'll have a flat in Sao Paulo and then will travel around S. America from that "command center. I've heard stories about the crime so I'm not to keen to bring down my valued and much needed electronics. Except for my Tom Tom which doesn't have street maps of the country.

On a secret spy mission? Good luck, agent Solipsism.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

On a secret spy mission? Good luck, agent Solipsism.

I'm more like Q than a double-0 agent which my excessive travel gadgets. I only wish I had gone when the dollar was stronger; hopefully things will be better by 2009. I even had a Brasilian friend who wanted me to bring him a digital camera telling me to forget it now that the dollar has dropped as much as it has. Really depressing!

[marcusandree]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I'm more like Q than a double-0 agent which my excessive travel gadgets. I only wish I had gone when the dollar was stronger; hopefully things will be better by 2009. I even had a Brasilian friend who wanted me to bring him a digital camera telling me to forget it now that the dollar has dropped as much as it has. Really depressing!

Actually, a weak dollar is not as bad as you think.

Market tends to regulate itself against external forces.

Signs of recession can act on exchange rates, but a weak
american dollar means "made in USA" products more attractive to foreign markets.
The US could, and certainly will, use this to earn vast amounts of money.

Then, as I said, the market will regulate itself again: more people buying US products
means more US dollars being exchanged for local currencies. This will result in a
stronger dollar. Net effect: US market came back to "normal" life.

The US should worry about China. Not a weak dollar. We spent an entire decade
with our local money devalued to 3 or 4 times its "normal" value and we survived. You
can do the same, if China allows you to, of course.

But be very welcome to the southern cross lands, agent 00-solipsism-Q, i.e., if
you decide to accept your mission!

Don't forget to drop me a line if you need a good reference for a local beer house.

Cheers!

[brlawyer]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Not that anyone cares, but I'll be heading to Brasil for 6-9 months to learn Portuguese and travel next year. I'll have a flat in Sao Paulo and then will travel around S. America from that "command center. I've heard stories about the crime so I'm not to keen to bring down my valued and much needed electronics. Except for my Tom Tom which doesn't have street maps of the country.

As a Brazilian that has lived in São Paulo for many years (now working in Europe), I can tell you that violence in that town is kinda overhyped. It's a huge town and OF COURSE there is gonna be crime...but not as "in your face" as many tend to think after reading the news. Indeed, São Paulo is WAY less violent than towns like Baltimore or Washington, DC.

If you live in a normal neighborhood and take common sense care, you can bring whatever electronics you wish. Brazil is a wonderful country in general and one of the strongest economies of the world, as well as world-leading levels of industrial production and energy production matrix.

Thankfully, LONG gone are the days when people would consider Brazil as the land of football, Carnival and dark people (only). It's a multicultural melting pot, with a vibrant market and excellent growth prospects, where you can easily find German and Italian speaking towns in the South, rich fields and urban areas in the Southeast/Center as well as the usual Indigenous traditions and landscapes in the North.

Moreover, a country where people are purchasing stuff as never before, with rapidly decreasing inequality coefficients and more and more numerous middle- and upper-class populations.

Apple is MORE than late with the iPhone in Brazil, which already has more than 300,000 unlocked units sold without any warranty from the company...go there and enjoy, I am sure you will like it.

[monkeyastronaut]

Originally Posted by ALPICH

When I was but a little child at School Australia was always stated as the largest island and the smallest continent. But only about 3 months ago I found out that Australia is no longer considered an island.

One day I am fairly certain that Earth will be a comet, The sun will be just a gas giant and we will find out we are all revolving around a giant space panda bear.

LOL
forget the apple insight. this is what keeps me coming back to appleinsider.

[GregAlexander]

Originally Posted by merdhead

I think there is room for 2G in a "low end" phone, since it will require a smaller battery and cheaper components, half the patent licensing costs, etc.

I agree there's room.

In fact, if 3G ends up being a little thicker than the current iPhone (2nd camera, 3G, GPS, bigger battery), a modernised 2G could be cheaper and half the thickness... and incredibly popular.

I'm merging multiple rumors to say 2 phones. A 2G (nano-coloured) 2.8inch iPhone and a 3G phone slightly thicker as rumoured.

I wonder if we'll see a new iPod Touch, and whether it'll have any phone features.

[Chris_CA]

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

I think by the end of the year Apple won't be making any 2G phones, regardless of geography

How do you know they are making any 2G phones right now?