Then last week, they had a happenin' but smaller event in London to announce the UK iPhone. The German deal yesterday, with T-Mobile, warranted merely a press release. And today we get France; those folks haven't even bothered to put out a press release yet, instead choosing just to confirm the fact to newswire reporters.

I won't bore you with launch details that don't really matter to North American readers. The most important fact, still, is that this is the same iPhone as has launched in the US - meaning it uses EDGE and Wi-Fi, not 3G cellular. T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France are both better equipped than O2 in the UK to deliver a high-quality iPhone experience. While O2's EDGE network only covers 30% of the UK, T-Mobile is pledging that all of Germany will be EDGy by the end of the year, and is giving iPhone users access to 8,600 Wi-Fi hotspots in Germany.

Orange France, the iPhone's French carrier, has had a national EDGE network for about two years now, which puts them in a good position for iPhonery. They also operate more than 9,700 Wi-Fi hotspots in France, Belgium and the UK. They haven't announced whether their iPhone subscription plan will include free Wi-Fi, though.