Orange in France, T-Mobile in Germany, O2 in UK are exclusive Carrier Partners for Apple's iPhone

After months of rumors and speculations which seemed to have covered just about all the major operators in the UK, Germany and France, the cat is finally out of the bag. Steve Jobs announced at Apple's "Mum is no longer the word" event in London that they have picked up O2 as their exclusive carrier partner in the UK for the iPhone. As for Germany its T-Mobile and in France its Orange who will be exclusive carrier partner's for Apple's iPhone.

More details such as tariff and pricing, date of the launch, availability etc after the jump.

So if you are in UK and have been waiting for Apple to launch the iPhone; here are some of answers you would be interested in.

When is the iPhone going to be launched in UK?

The iPhone will be launched in UK on November 9th.

How much will it cost and what are the data plans that will be available?

In the UK the price of the iPhone is £269 including VAT and there will be three plans available O2 iPhone £35 with 200 free minutes and 200 free SMS, O2 iPhone £45 with 600 free minutes and 500 free SMS, O2 iPhone £55 with 1200 free minutes and 500 free SMS. All come with unlimited data plans and free voicemal.

The good news is that 02 has also signed an agreement with Cloud, a Wi-Fi provider in UK, for 7,500 WiFi spots which will be available free of charge to iPhone users.

Where will the iPhone be available?

The iPhone will be available in Apple Stores, O2 stores and seems like Apple was worried about O2's retail presence and have roped in Carphone Wharehouse, thus adding 1300 more points of distribution in the UK, so maybe you won't have to wait in the lines like fans in the US.

What's the contract length, and does unlimited usage truly mean unlimited?

As per O2 UK CEO, Matthew key the lenght of the contract will be 18 months. There is a limit: 1,400 internet pages per day would break the deal as part of fair usage agreement. Not sure what that is supposed to mean.

To check out O2's iPhone page, follow this link.

Update for folks in Germany:

We now have news that T-mobile will be the exclusive partner for Apple's iPhone in Germany. Some of questions answered for those in Germany:

When is the iPhone going to be launched in UK?

The iPhone will be launched in UK on November 9th.

How much will it cost and what are the data plans that will be available?

In Germany the price of the iPhone is €399 ($553 / £276) and will require a 2-year T-Mobile contract. The details on the data plans are still not available.

Where will the iPhone be available?

The iPhone will be sold in Germany through Telekom Shops of Deutsche Telekom and the T-Mobile web shop.

To check out T-Mobile's iPhone page, follow this link.

Update for folks in France:

France Telecom wireless arm Orange has signed an agreement with

Apple to distribute the Apple iPhone in

France

and expected to be released sometime in November. However, they have not divulged any further details like pricing or even the exact date of the launch. Though they have been quite categorical in stating that they

"won't subsidize the iPhone".

In case you are in Germany or France and were hoping to find out who will be the exclusive carrier partner in your country then I guess you might have to wait a little longer. The latest we have is that tomorrow we should have the announcement on the exclusive partner in Germany and similar announcements will be made in France on Thursday.

You got to love Steve Jobs for his wise crack answers during the event in London, this is what he had to say when he was asked about his reaction to upsetting other carriers who feel played-off in terms of not getting this deal.

"We said we'd be in a few countries in Europe and we still plan to do that. As to the carriers, we took the approach to see who would be the best fit -- it's like going out on a few dates before getting married. So yeah, we have a few upset girlfriends out there."

I guess for the rest of the folks, the wait for the most-hyped (deservingly) ever created continues. As for all those lucky folks in UK, France and Germany who should get their hands on the iPhone fairly soon and all those in the US who already have an iPhone watch the video below on how you could pimp your iPhone:

Thanks Dexter Avery and Mike Goedecke for sending this in.

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