If you’ve been dying to get a new 3G iPhone, your wait is almost over. Claro, the leading GSM and 3G cellular provider in Argentina, and Movistar, which has more clients than any other company, will both start selling the iPhone August 22. 

“The prices, rates and details of the offer will be announced in the days ahead,” Movistar said in a statement Wednesday. A spokesperson for Claro said the prices had not yet been determined.

“The phone will be in the same price range as the other smart phones already on the market,” the person said.

It is highly unlikely that the phone will cost as little as $199 as it does in the U.S. The phone will likely face an import tax as a “luxury good.” Typically such items face an 83% import tax, along with other applicable taxes such as Argentina’s 21% value-added tax.

Both companies will come with access to Apple’s new Apps Store. The 3G phone also includes integrated GPS, as well as Microsoft Exchange Active Sync compatibility, meaning that it can be used with corporate email accounts.

Until now the Apps Store has been available only to iPhone 2.0 version users in a handfull of countries. On August 22 it will be available in 10 Latin American countries. I’ve been using Version 2.0 on my iPhone here and can say that it works seemlessly. 

Most applications cost $1.99, some cost more and others are free. A great application for users in Argentina is a “Units Converter” App. It is by far the best unit converter I have ever used on any computer or phone. It easily converts everything from currencies to weights, volumes, and temperatures, etc. It looks like a simple calculator and is as easy to use.

If you already iTunes and Version 2.0, you can get the application by clicking here. There are also a host of decent digital voice recorders. You can see a review of several of them here. This a particularly good App for journalists, language students and teachers, or anyone else who needs a recorder. Some of these Apps even allow you to email the recording after capturing it. I use QuickVoice Recorder, a $2 App which you can find here.

Link: Claro

Link: Movistar

Photo from Prensa Presidencia

Analysts have been picking their brains trying to figure out which direction the Argentine government will take after suffering its historical legislative setback last month. President Cristina Fernandez has said virtually nothing about recent events and has given almost no indication about her intentions. This could change Saturday, when Fernandez gives the first presidential press conference in five years.

In any case, I’ve decided to start analyzing the president’s speeches for clues. One fun – if obviously inadequate – tool for doing this is to look at how many times she refers to certain words and concepts in her speeches. In her first public comments after Congress rejected her controversial farm taxes, the president focused on “infrastructure.” Of course, she was delivering her speech at the inauguration of a new airport in Chaco, so it should surprise no one that she spoke about infrastructure. But to many people’s surprise, she did not say anything about Congress, farmers, taxes or the “golpistas” who her husband said had tried to overthrow the government. I’ll be tracking the president’s speeches from here on out, and will post the results here if they merit comment.

Link: Wordle

Argentina will get its first presidential press conference in five years Saturday. At 4:30pm President Cristina Fernandez will take questions from local and foreign reporters, including yours truly. The event will take place at Olivos, the presidential residence. Each reporter gets to ask one question. If you could ask that question yourself, what would it be?

If you’re interested in Argentine politics, and are free, tune in, as this will be political history in the making. If you’re oversees and want to tune in, try one of these sites, where you should be able to watch it live online:

Link: C5N
Link: TN
Link: Presidencia (click on the video on the right-hand side of the screen)

If you’re a Mac user, make sure you have Flip4Mac installed, so you can watch Windows Video files via QuickTime. You can download it for free here.