Vice President Amado Boudou appears to be a big Apple fan.

In this photo you can see him meeting with Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino.

But if you’re an Apple geek what you’ll notice about the picture is that Boudou’s desk is full of Apple products. He’s got 1) a big iMac 2) a wireless Apple keyboard 3) a wireless Apple touch mouse and 4) and iPhone 4 or 4S (bottom of the photo, implying it may belong to Lorenzino).

Boudou is also using a LaCie portable hard drive, which is made specifically for Apple computers.

These products are expensive and can be hard to find in Argentina. Indeed, the government banned iPhone imports a long time ago, forcing Argentines to get them from MercadoLibre or somewhere else.

The import restrictions have also made it hard for local Apple resellers to honor the company’s international AppleCare warranty. Dealers here can’t import the parts needed to fix Apple products. This has been very frustrating for some Apple owners, including many readers of this blog.

Another iPhone fan appears to be Industry Minister Débora Giorgi, who has advocated the import restrictions, saying they help create local jobs. In the photo below, she is seen with four phones, one of which is an iPhone.

Former cabinet chief Aníbal Fernández, now a member of Congress, is also a big fan. He proudly used to take his iPad with him to testify before Congress.

Like many of Argentina’s policies, the iPhone ban is informal. It was never announced publicly and exists solely in de facto terms.

Telecommunications companies would love to sell the iPhone here.

But they haven’t been able to bring it into the country. Industry officials say the government hopes that by banning products, manufacturers will eventually make them here.

That appears to have been the case with Research in Motion, which decided to assemble Blackberries locally after the government banned their entry.

But it’s hard to imagine Apple deciding to make iPhones in Argentina. The NY Times had a great story about iPhone manufacturing here, and a great video here.

The iPhone ban is part of a much broader government crack-down on imports.

You can read more about all of this in a piece I did for The Wall Street Journal here.

Claro, Argentina’s leading cell phone company, is rollling out a new 50 megabit, fiber optic broadband service.

The service is the fastest currently available for Argentine households, Claro said in a statement Tuesday.

“This new technology is already available in 3 de Febrero, Morón, Vicente Lopez, Avellaneda and Berazategui, where it currently offers 1, 3, 5, 10, 30 and 50 megas…,” Claro said.

The announcement comes just days after Grupo Clarin started offering its own 30 megabit service, known as Fibertel Evolution.

Fibertel Evolution uses a fiber optic network to deliver broadband to nodes located around the country and likely in your neighborhood (fiber to the node, or FTTN). The nodes then delivery Internet access to households using traditional coaxil cables. (Read more about Fibertel Evolution here.)

Claro said its “fiber to the home” or FTTH service is 100% fiber optic. Both carriers can increase speeds if demand calls for it.

Claro is expanding its coverage area not just in Greater Buenos Aires but also in Argentina’s interior, where some 300,000 homes already have access to the company’s fiber optic network. Claro’s service also allows for fixed-line telephone plans.

Initially, at least, the service will be limited to the areas listed above, making it a competitor to Fibertel Evolution only in select neighborhoods.

After years in the wilderness of painfully slow Internet access, the race for blazingly fast broadband is finally on in Argentina. Here’s to faster surfing for all!

For more information about Claro’s service, click here. For more about Fibertel Evolution, click here.

Argentina’s Internet service provider, Fibertel, is now offering its new ultra fast 30 megabit download service, making Argentina the third country in Latin America to offer such fast broadband, according to Fibertel.

The new service, called Fibertel Evolution, offers upload speeds of up to 3M, about twice as fast as its previously fastest service.

Fibertel officially launched the service at a hip event in Recoleta on Tuesday, though the brand’s nationwide ad campaign won’t begin until October.

A Fibertel official said the service will cost 300 pesos a month for customers of the company’s cablevision TV service. It will be 450 pesos for everyone else.

Fibertel can increase the download speed to 100M and may eventually do so, depending on how consumer demand evolves in the coming months and years.

Evolution users will have access to exclusive technical support but will be limited to downloading 250G per month. Once that limit is exceeded, Fibertel reserves the right to reduce a user’s bandwidth speed to 6M until the beginning of the next month.

Fibertel invested 150 million pesos ($35.7 million) to build the backbone and infrastructure necessary to host the faster technology, known as Docsis 3.0. The new service relies in part on a new fiber optic network, which connects to household via traditional coaxial cable.

Evolution will initially be available in the City of Buenos Aires, Greater Buenos Aires, Campana, Zárate, La Plata, Santa Fe, Rosario, Córdoba, Paraná and Mar del Plata.

You can sign up for the service here.

If you sign up for Evolution, please share your thoughts about it here in the comments section.

Happy Surfing!

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings provided new details on Wednesday about the company’s online video service in Argentina.

Among other things, Reed said Netflix aims to have all of its TV and movie offerings available in their original languages with subtitles and secondary audio options.

The video streaming company, which already has more than 25 million customers in Canada and the U.S, started streaming in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on Wednesday, a day after it launched in Brazil. By the end of next week, Netflix will be offering its service to 43 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

For a look at why Netflix launched here before doing so in Asia and Europe, check out my article here.

For local readers, the key points are that Netflix will:

*Expand its online library on a daily basis
*Continue adding subtitles and other language options
*Add Argentine production content
*Allow users in any one country to automatically view content when they are traveling in another that offers Netflix. So, if you sing up in Argentina, you will be able to watch U.S. content when you’re in the U.S., etc.
*Continually add to the number of devices that allow you to watch Netflix on your TV. Soon Argentine-made Samsung and LG Smart TVs will allow for Netflix streaming. Other devices, like the Xbox, will be compatible as early as November. The company is working with Apple to make its service available on iPhones & iPads too. It’s not clear when Netflix might be able locally via Apple TV.
*Will automatically detect the speed of your broadband connection and adjust the quality of the streaming accordingly. The faster your connection, the better your video quality will be. As a general rule of thumb, if your connection is fast enough to watch YouTube, it’s fast enough to use Netflix, which is capable of streaming at 1080 HD.

If you’re a U.S. or Canadian expat in BA, you can continue to use your accounts here. Netflix will automatically recognize your IP address and start offering you content that is available in Argentina. Likewise, instead of paying 39 pesos a month, you can sign up in the U.S. and pay $7.99 per month, getting the very same access.

In general, the content on Netflix in Argentina is at least one year old, for now. That means you won’t find the latest TV episodes or movies on Netflix. This may change in the future as the company signs more distribution deals. Netflix currently offers about 10,000 hours worth of content in Argentina.

Netflix has a very complex algorithm system that measures your movie preferences – when you rate shows online – and learns your interests. The site has more than 6.5 billion user preferences stored online and it uses that information to change the way TV shows and films are displayed on your screen. The more you use Netflix, the better it gets at suggesting movies and shows for you.

You can sign up here. You’ll need a credit card or a Paypal account. The company is exploring for ways to add additional payment options in Argentina.

If you have any questions, let me know. I’ll try to get you answers.

Netflix, the U.S. film and TV Internet streaming company, will launch its service in Argentina on Wednesday.

The company will charge 39 pesos (about $9.28) a month for unlimited streaming.

Netflix launched its first Latin American service in Brazil on Monday and plans to expand rapidly throughout the region. For more details, click on the company’s official press release here or on Netflix’s blog here.

It’s unclear how much the local service will mirror Netflix in the U.S. Will the same films and TV shows be available or will intellectual property and distribution rights change the online library?

Will TV shows and movies be dubbed or have subtitles or some mix of the two? Will it be possible to view the streaming in HD?  Separately, how will Argentina’s Internet service providers and their relatively slow local bandwidth offerings stand up?

Netflix officials have been in the region studying its Internet infrastructure and are confident the service will work well. Rochelle King, Netflix VP of User Experience and Design, said the following in a blog post:

“We’ve licensed thousands and thousands of hours of feature films, classic favorites, gripping telenovelas, documentaries and kids shows we know you’ll enjoy.  We’ve been testing and figuring out the right internet architecture to make sure the quality and speed of the Netflix streaming experience is the best it can be.  And we’ve been training people locally to deliver the excellent customer support Netflix is known for in the U.S. and Canada.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings will be in Buenos Aires on Wednesday to formally launch the service. I’ll be at his press conference. What would you ask him?

Argentina’s leading cable TV provider, Cablevisión, has fallen behind on plans to launch its new ultra-fast Internet service.

A Cablevisión official had said back in February that it planned to increase download speeds by up to 10 times in the first half of 2011.

But we’re now in the second half of the year and Cablevisión’s Internet unit, Fibertel, still doesn’t know when it will be able to offer the service.

Fibertel plans to offer the faster service by deploying the DOCSIS 3.0 modem technology already used in the U.S.

But a Fibertel official said no deployment date is available.

That raises questions about how ready Argentina will be for the planned arrival of Netflix, the video streaming company, which said it will offer its service in Argentina by the end of the year. Netflix requires fast Internet access, especially for HD content.

Have you ever wanted something that you just couldn’t find in Argentina?

Ever been jonesing for some pancake mix or syrup or some cool item like an iPad 2, a Zoom microphone or a Canon EF 55mm lens?

The Mule Pool hopes to be your solution.

The Mule Pool is an online exchange that connects buyers with travelers (mules) so you can get what you want. You pay a mule to bring it to you. Or, say you’re traveling and want to make some extra cash. You could mule something back for somebody else. How does it work?

1) You tell The Mule Pool what you want.
2) Mules review open requests and determine how they can help.
3) You (the buyer) put your money into an escrow account. The Mule Pool guards the money until it’s sure your product was delivered.
4) You arrange to meet the mule.
5) Once you confirm to The Mule Pool that transaction has been carried out, the mule gets paid.What’s in it for The Mule Pool? They get a 15% commission, which covers transaction costs, bank and exchange rate fees, etc. The Mule Pool accepts PayPal and is currently exploring other means of payment.

The site is the brainchild of Buenos Aires-based expats Morgan Friedman and Daniel Karlin.I spoke with one of them, Daniel Karlin, and asked him about the site. ”It’s exploding,” he said. Traffic to the site, which is less than three weeks ago, has been growing rapidly thanks to Twitter and word of mouth.

Karlin said the first mules are currently working on completing the site’s first transactions. But those initial transactions could blossom quickly into the thousands if the concept takes off.

And while the initial aim of the site was simply to help people get hard-to-find goods, it could end up leading to much more than that. For example, it’s easy to see how the site might connect people with similar interests and thereby foster new friendships here and abroad.

If you’re an Argentine and you want an unusual kind of tennis racket, it’s entirely possible that the mule bringing it to you might share some kind of interest in tennis. Voila! Instant rapport.

One question that arose on Twitter relates to the legality of the site. Argentines, wary about the $300 customs limit at the EZE airport, wanted to know if paying a mule to bring back, say, an iMac, would be legal.

Well, if you paid the customs tax it would be.

“We strongly recommend that everyone abide by all laws,” said Karlin. “We are total sticklers about ensuring everyone follows all relevant laws and pays all the taxes.”

If you wanted a mule to bring an expensive item into Argentina, you’d have to calculate the value of them item, plus customs fees, into the transaction.

Let’s say you wanted a US $100 distortion pedal for your guitar. You’d have to pay $100 for the pedal, a pre-arranged fee to the mule, and then 15% of the total as a commission to The Mule Pool. You set the fee you’re willing to pay the mule. The higher the fee, the more likely someone will bring it to you.

One last thing. The Mule Pool isn’t just for Argentina. You can use it from anywhere in the world. You live in France and want White Tea only found in China? No problem. Just ask for it on The Mule Pool.

The Mule Pool is a new project and will surely evolve as its founders improve it and receive feedback. Would you use The Mule Pool? Check it out here.

A stellar new iPhone App lets you listen to and record your favorite radio shows in Argentina.

The Radio Argentina App, created by 24/7 iPhone Apps, is easy to use. You can listen to and record live radio or even configure the App to work as a radio alarm.

You can also program it to record shows for you on a timer.

This is a perfect tool for journalists or anyone else who wants or needs to listen to news radio shows, etc.

The App can even display song names while you’re streaming music to your phone.

The company was kind enough to give away 10 free Apps to Argentine Post readers.

If you’d like a free one, just send an email to me taos@argentinepost.com.

Or click here and buy it for US 99 cents on iTunes.

Here are some of the App’s features:

✔ Alarm Clock
✔ Sleep Timer
✔ Search by radio name
✔ Graphic Equalizer
✔ Favorites list
✔ History of last played stations
✔ Regular updates over the air
✔ Customer service support
✔ Song title and artist name (when available)
✔ iPhone 4 Retina Display icon
✔ Recording
✔ Facebook & Twitter support
✔ Advanced Alarm Manager – Multiple Alarms, Day Selection, iPod music / Radio station and more
✔ Transfer Recordings to your computer with iTunes USB File Sharing (iOS 4.x)
✔ “Wifi only” On/Off switch (setting can be found in the main setting app under Radio
✔ Airplay support (Tested on Apple TV)
✔ YouTube clip for the currently playing song
✔ Automatic recordings: set an alarm to start a recording

By Taos Turner @taos on Twitter

Argentina’s leading cable TV provider, Cablevisión, plans to launch a new ultra-fast Internet service in the first half of 2011.

The plan, which the company confirmed late Wednesday, will offer customers of its Fibertel Internet service download speeds that are up to 10 times faster than what they are currently.

As reported here last year, Fibertel will offer the faster service by deploying the DOCSIS 3.0 modem technology already used in the U.S.

Price information is not yet available.

The service will make it much easier to download or stream HD video and engage in hi-resolution video conferences.

Last year Fibertel lept ahead of its competition by offering to double its standard 3 megabit service to 6 megabits, which began bringing Argentina’s comparatively slow broadband speeds inline with those offered in developed countries.

In my case, at least, the faster 6M service has worked as advertised. My video conferences with friends and family abroad are smoother and more reliable.

Cablevisión, owned by the multimedia giant Grupo Clarín, has been under attack from the government, which has accused it of operating without a proper broadband license.

The company has said that its license is perfectly legal and that the government is simply using the license issue as an excuse to attack the media company and curb freedom of the press in Argentina.

Last year Planning Minister Julio De Vido gave Fibertel 90 days to shut down its service, telling customers they would have to migrate en masse to another broadband provider.

But that period passed and, as far anyone can tell, Fibertel is still alive and well.

Cablevisión has about 3.1 million customers (households) while Fibertel has 1.1 million clients, according to Grupo Clarin’s latest quarterly report.

The government did not follow through on its threat, presumably, in part, because doing so would have created a logistical nightmare for both consumers and Argentina’s telecommunications industry, which was ill-prepared to absorb so many new customers at once.

For an in-depth look at the “state of the Internet” around the word, click here (free registration required).

Asia dominates the world in terms of rapid Internet speeds, with South Korea and Japan blazing the trail.

President Cristina Fernández on Monday pledged to marshall investments totaling $2 billion to create a nationwide fiber optic network so that everyone in Argentina can access the Internet.

Fernandez called access to information “a universal right” and said the plan will prove to be a “historic milestone” like the creation of public television here was 59 years ago.

The announcement is also part of a plan by the government to provide free, nationwide open-air HDTV signals to households around the country, even in areas that have never had access to cable TV or other broadcast signals.

The HDTV network will have a total of 16 channels, including one dedicated to showing Argentine films, Fernández said.

The broadband plan also calls for free WiFi hotspots in plazas and other public places around the county, as well as the creation of cyber libraries.

It’s unclear exactly how the new fiber-optic network will be built, though Fernández said it will be partly a private and public sector project. It’s also unclear what kind of download speeds the network will offer.

The program is scheduled to be fully up and running within three years, though readers may note that some previously appealing announcements have failed to deliver within the announced time frames.

In January 2009 the government said it would scrap the capital city’s anachronistic public transportation payment system and replace it with a single “electronic” card system to allow people to prepay for bus, subway and train trips.

Fernández promised to have the so-called SUBE system running within 90 days. It’s now about 22 months later and the system has yet to be implemented as announced.

In separate but related news, the Internet service provider Fibertel came out with a promotion Saturday offering to double the download speed of its 3-Megabit customers to 6 Megabits.

*I signed up for the offer and found that my download speed had actually tripled to more than 9Mbps, at least temporarily, making me a very happy camper. My videochats with friends and family in the U.S. are now sharper than before. Upload speeds are also faster.

Adam Williams, a U.S. expat who is studying Spanish in Argentina, has created a new iPhone app to help people learn Argentine slang, or “lunfardo.”

I haven’t tested the app thoroughly, so I can’t confirm that all the definitions are spot on.

But I’ve used it enough to say that it’s a simple, fun and easy-to-use way to improve your understanding of lunfardo.

In addition to providing basic definitions, the app lets you to test your knowledge of local slang by taking multiple choice quizzes.

You can download it via iTunes for $1.99 by clicking here.

For more information, check out Adam’s Porteño Spanish website here.

To download free iTunes lunfardo videos, produced by The Argentine Post, click here. You can also see some of them on YouTube by clicking here.

Cablevisión plans to offer a total of 20 HD channels by the end of the year and 30 by mid 2011.

Cablevisión chief executive Carlos Moltini confirmed the plans to The Argentine Post last week after a meeting with local bloggers.

Argentina’s leading cable TV provider is also working on plans to offer much faster download speeds to customers of its Fibertel Internet service.

Fibertel will offer Internet downloads speeds up to 10x faster than those currently available, Moltini said in the meeting. The company will offer the faster service by deploying the so-called DOCSIS 3.0 modem technology already used in the U.S.

Moltini said Cablevisión is technically close to being able to deploy the new technology. But it’s unclear exactly when the faster broadband service will be launched.

Cablevisión, owned by the multimedia giant Grupo Clarín, is under heavy attack from the government, which accuses it of operating without a proper broadband license.

As a result, the company is concerned that launching the service now might be interpreted as a political move rather than a simple product launch.

Moltini said the company’s license is perfectly legal and that the government is simply using the license issue as an excuse to attack the media company and curb freedom of the press in Argentina.

The government has repeatedly accused Grupo Clarín, and the newspaper La Nación, of coup-mondering through biased reporting.

Last week the government announced plans to take over the nation’s newspaper production industry, saying this is necessary to ensure freedom of the press.

Critics have said the move is merely an attempt to silence voices that question the wisdom of government policies.

As for the Internet, Moltini said the government has never shown any interest in making broadband access more available.

“If they really cared about Internet access, they would lower the import taxes on all the equipment we have to buy to improve the network,” Moltini said.

*Photo: Cablevisión’s Carlos Moltini explaining the the company’s history and its acquisition of cable and broadband operating licenses in Argentina.