Europe Going iPhone…Soon.

With Apple set to announce it’s European iPhone strategy later this week, a lot of questions still remain on the specifics of the deal.  What we know:

• The carriers will be O2 in the UK, Tmobile in Germany, and Orange in France.  Spain’s Telefonica might also pick up the device because of the O2 relationship.
• Even with the rampant SIM hacking, the devices will be locked to the carriers initially.  Different Laws in Europe REQUIRE that device manufacturers open up their devices after 6 months of use.  This might not be a huge issue as the phones are likely to be sold with 2 year plans.
• Apple’s UK announcement will likely open the iPod Touch floodgates as the employees have been asked to stay late the day of the announcement.

What we’d like to know:

• 3G or not?  It is looking more and more like the 3G iPhone will be hitting the ground around Macworld.  Could Apple be trying to slang EDGE iPhones to the 3G spoiled Europeans?  If so, will that alone cause the iPhone to be poorly regarded in the land of copious Wireless bandwidth?
• Will the iPhone match the iPod’s 16Gb storage requirements?  If so, how far up can the prices go?
• Apple traditionally sells its products in Europe with a premium that is also due to its language requirements, different channel density and absurdly high VAT.  What price will it try to fetch with it’s current lineup
• How will Apple keep the hackers out of the iPhone?  IT is having a hard time doing just that in the States where there is only one other carrier besides AT&T (Tmobile) that carries the iPhone and Americans are used to being screwed by their Carriers.  Europeans are much more accustomed to freedom to move carriers
• What goodies besides international keyboards, mobile itunes and more hacker prevention will the 1.1.1 firmware have?  iChat?  Copy/Paste?  More photo tools?

The event is just around the corner at the Apple store in London.  Could we also see the long awaited Beatles on iTunes announcement?  Is there anyone left who hasn’t downloaded the entire anthology off of Torrent.  So many Questions….