“Will VimpelCom be the first wireless operator to sell the iPhone in Russia? If Chief Executive Alexander Izosimov has his way, it will. ‘Nobody’s struck a deal with Apple yet, but we would love to,’ he says. Izosimov says no negotiations are taking place, and he has no idea whether his company will win the rights to sell Apple’s coveted device. But in a wide-ranging interview with BusinessWeek, the CEO makes it clear that he’s looking at many avenues to maintain the rapid growth his company has seen in recent years, from adding new devices like the iPhone to expanding into the broadband business,” Jay Yarow reports for BusinessWeek.
“VimpelCom, which operates under the Beeline brand, is Russia’s second-largest wireless provider, with 52 million subscribers,” Yarrow reports.
“VimpelCom wants to join with Apple to tap into the expected strong demand from consumers for the device. But its two major rivals, Mobile TeleSystems and MegaFon, are interested in the iPhone, too. ‘Obviously we would love to [sell the Apple phone this year],’ says a spokesman for Mobile TeleSystems,” Yarrow reports.
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
And to quote John Cleese in ‘Fish Called Wanda’:
Есть сила благодатная
В созвучье слов живых,
В минуту жизни трудную
Теснится ль в сердце грусть:
Одну молитву чудную
Твержу я наизусть.
С души как бремя скатится,
Сомненье далеко —
И верится, и плачется,
И так легко, легко…
(by Mikhail Yerievich Lermontov)
I just felt it would be a shame to put it in English, when it sounds so poetic in original Russian (as delivered by Archie Leach…)
The Russians have Taste in good products and are willing to duke it out. No one’s talking like that about any other Cell Phone.
Here’s the translation:
There is strength fertile
In tune with the words of living,
In a moment of life difficult
Close zero in the heart of sadness:
One prayer chudnuyu
I harder by heart.
Since the soul as a burden rays,
Doubts far —
And believe, and cries,
And so easy, easy ..
PS: It does sound better in Russian…
OK; just don’t let that little dictator Putin have one.
Keith Moon,
is that the rule for all dictators or just russian ones?
I can’t wait to see how many people get murdered in Moscow over who gets the iPhone business…that’s how things get done over there…
I can’t wait to see how many people get murdered in Moscow over who gets the iPhone business…that’s how things get done over there…
—————-
Christ. What year is this? Slagging off the Russians? Wake up, pal, the US is worried about getting taken over by China now, not Russia.
Great! That’s the attitude we like!
BTW, I’m pretty sure Putin already has an iPhone. I know his handpicked successor, Medvedev, definitely has his.
“Russian carriers vie to bring Apple’s iPhone to Russia”
So they don’t trust Fed-Ex? They gotta send an aircraft carrier?
Maybe I should re-read the article…..
Be careful what you say about Putin.
Or it’s the Polonium-210 for you.
popups
try the polonium-210.
I hear Putin has no trouble with them…
What’s next, Iran?
Russia is fun… I’m absolutely sure they’re excited about the possibility of tracking people via their GPS iPhones…
P.s. – not to say US is any different – both regimes are very aggressive human rights offenders.
Time to sober up, Bender.
And you WILL buy the iPhone and you WILL like it and we WILL be tracking your phone calls! No questions allowed! Next!
to Spinoza:
Leave it to Google translator to bungle poetry beyond recognition!
A more appropriate (although not quite as poetic as the original) translation:
There is a power, suffused with grace,
when living words combine
At life’s most testing moment, when
the grieving heart’s replete,
a prayer that is most potent then
I call up and repeat.
Like dead-weight slipping from the brain
now fades my unbelief –
I trust again, shed tears again,
and such relief, relief…
As for the cracks about “how things get done over there”, it is pretty obvious to anyone there is not one iota of difference between “there” and “here” (meaning the US). If there is any difference, it will be the fact that “over there”, people are generally aware about it; over here, very many believe in the propriety of government, the rule of law and free markets.
1) Pedrarg: thank you for the real translation. I was about to do it myself after seeing that botched Google translate horror.
2) iDon’t + Cubert + all the other ignorant morons out there: I won’t label you as being “anti-this” or “anti-that”, but MOVE ON. People and countries change, just as Russia and the U.S. have changed. Wake up, smell the coffee, and realize that the Cold War is over. Read that again: THE COLD WAR is OVER.
I especially don’t understand the comment by iDon’t: “What’s next, Iran?” Dude, do you even know ANYTHING about Iran, or are you just following the leader dog as part of the herd, throwing around pretty phrases and popular country names? If you’re going to get political and make snide remarks about countries, do it with knowledge and information.
And to Cubert: I believe you were trying to be funny. If that’s the case, excuse my tone. But since you still might want your dose of enlightenment for the day (June 24, 2008), here it is: your reference to the USSR being an “oppressive” regime where “YOU WILL LIKE IT” etc. is utter bull and has no feet to stand on. Here’s what I’d like to tell you: if you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t talk about it.
{-end or rant-}
PS: I do find it somewhat comical that almost all posts with the most comments on MDN are politically related. (Even though this story just talks about the freakin’ iPhone coming to Russia, people still bring politics into it).
Peace
Predrag, sorry for mispelling your name above.
if we don’t hear from Cubert or iDon’t anymore, we’ll know what happened.
I’ve said too much…..
Now that was funny. You’re next. LOL
Of course, Sasha is right. One must be a total idiot to even remotely consider, that any of mentioned countries could be responsible for killing inconvenient people, fabrications of fake evidence to start outrageous wars, maintaining illegal prisons where humans have zero rights, polluting nature at levels beyond sanity, enslaving own nation to non-renewable fuels and so on. So that is an absolute joke to talk about some patriot-act-ish stuff to be used against anyone when phones with built in GPS become a common thing… (no offtopic here..
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But as MDN is so political, I’ll add some additional thoughts…
I think Russia and US is very much alike, because both basically are regimes against their own people – forget the Cold war, it’s ancient history. Money & power at whatever cost [of own people] – it’s all that matters. But while with the Putin with his puppet Teddy Bear appears to be no good news, Americans just might have that chance of a change soon…
P.s. – sorry for offtopic, possibly offensive comments and clumsy english, but this is my sincere viewpoint as a citizen of small country stranded between the interests of these two monster countries. Sorry, don’t feel the morning coffee aroma yet.
Amazing, how most astute English comes from non-English speakers…