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Gadgets Apple to Sell Unlocked iPhones in Germany
Chris Peredun - November 21, 2007 12:41 PM

11 comment(s) - last by Griswold.. on Dec 4 at 11:43 AM

For the low, low cost of $1,500, you can have a legitimately unlocked iPhone

While North American iPhone users are struggling against a sea of firmware updates to use their devices on non-AT&T networks, and making enough headway to break the 1.1.2 firmware before its official release, those in Germany are getting a chance to buy a factory-unlocked phone -- for the not-so-low cost of €999, or approximately 1,500 USD.

Deutsche Telekom, the German T-Mobile carrier, had entered an exclusive agreement with Apple in September to sell the iPhone in Germany, but promptly found themselves the target of a court injunction from Vodafone Inc. Germany carries laws similar to France with regard to telecommunications that prohibit mobile phones being tied to a specific carrier or plan.

Last month, a French court ruled that in order to avoid the ire of the law, France Telecom's Orange subsidiary would be required to sell the iPhone unlocked -- but not until a period of six months after its initial release.

The German laws differ in that there is no waiting period, which forced Deutsche Telekom to offer the unlocked iPhone for sale immediately, albiet with a significantly higher price tag.

As expected, not all of the iPhone's features -- such as Visual Voicemail or Chat Texting -- will be available on unlocked units. With reduced functionality, a price tag of nearly a thousand euros, and the potential for a 3G-enabled model in 2008, the offering of unlocked iPhones seems little more than a concession to legality than a genuine offer of good faith.

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Lock down

By Screwballl on 11/21/2007 2:14:00 PM , Rating: 1

I am hoping that this will lead to a change in laws in the US that require any phone to be capable to be used on any network. they are so cheap nowadays that a few more dollars shouldn't hurt the average phone buyer.

RE: Lock down

By Oregonian2 on 11/21/2007 2:30:02 PM , Rating: 3

That would awful. Phones would get huge, spendy, and batteries wouldn't last as long. Awful. That's like making a law that all cars must be able to use corded electricity, gasoline, pure alcohol, hydrogen, AND diesel fuel. Would be nice, but I don't want them to do it. Awful.

The CDMA and GSM networks are completely different. One basic difference, even to the user, is that that CDMA (Verizon) phones don't even use SIM cards (if you know what those are). Even GSM phones aren't themselves always compatible with GSM networks, because there are different frequency bands used in different countries (why good to get a quad-band one and I think there additional frequencies coming up for more new features).

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RE: Lock down

By onereddog on 11/23/2007 12:07:06 AM , Rating: 2

Well actually I think that would be more like saying that all cars must be able to fill up at any petrol station.

Sure some GSM's aren't compatible with other GSM networks, but that is limited to like 4 different frequencies (as fas as I'm aware). All GSM phones sold in the states should be able to go on any GSM network is what I think the dude was trying to say.
The situation you described is different to what happed in Germany and France (and what the last dude was asking for).

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RE: Lock down

By Strunf on 11/23/2007 6:23:05 AM , Rating: 2

I don't see the complexity in making a phone compatible with both GSM and CDMA.

There are only like 4 GSM frequencies and any new phone is compatible with at least 3 of them, any phone over $300 is compatible with ALL of them.

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Not quite

By Griswold on 11/21/2007 2:29:02 PM , Rating: 4

Germany carries laws similar to France with regard to telecommunications that prohibit mobile phones being tied to a specific carrier or plan.

[...]

The German laws differ in that there is no waiting period, which forced Deutsche Telekom to offer the unlocked iPhone for sale immediately, albiet with a significantly higher price tag.

Wrong. There is no such law in germany. It was a preliminary injunction requested by Vodafone. In ~2 weeks time, a court ruling about this preliminary injunction is expected because T-Mobile has filed a formal objection against this injunction. If the verdict is in favor of T-Mobile, they can immediately retract their "naked iphone" offer and proceed with their locked phone business.

What happens in france is something completely different.

RE: Not quite

By onereddog on 11/23/2007 12:09:33 AM , Rating: 2

If France and Germany begin selling their I-phones unlocked and eventually the price will even out to what ever the market wants... will the contradict the idea of the EU single market?

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RE: Not quite

By Griswold on 12/4/2007 11:43:08 AM , Rating: 2

As of today, T-Mobile retracted their unlocked iPhone offer and went back to selling locked phones thanks to a court rejecting Vodafones preliminary injuntion.

Back to business as usual it seems. I bet many germans will just walk over the border and buy an (unlocked) iPhone in france once it becomes available. That will be cheaper than any offer in germany in the long run anyway...

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Not that spendy...

By Oregonian2 on 11/21/2007 2:20:55 PM , Rating: 1

I don't recall the price that the T-Mobile version of iPhone will be in Germany, or know the deal that they did with T-Mobile/Germany, but if one takes the U.S. price of an iPhone and then add on the rumored amount of AT&T fees that Apple gets over two years (around $500) and then add on the observation that technology things tend to sell for more in Europe than they do in the U.S. with the dollar and Euro price being roughly the same number or even a few more Euros than dollars (I assume there are reasons why, but that's not the topic here), then the thousand Eros is probably about the price one would expect Apple to ask for in order to yield the same net income as they do in the U.S. over the two year signup period (for a unlocked phone it has to be gotten all upfront).

It seems about what one might expect.

Phones in the US that sell by the mfgr for $250 can sometimes be gotten for free or $20 with a plan signup. See no reason why an unlocked iPhone shouldn't be higher priced as well.

RE: Not that spendy...

By Chris Peredun on 11/21/2007 2:24:24 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I don't recall the price that the T-Mobile version of iPhone will be in Germany

Forgot to mention that in the article - it's €399, plus the plan at €45/month for two years.

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RE: Not that spendy...

By Oregonian2 on 11/21/2007 2:32:16 PM , Rating: 2

Thanks. That makes things add up to a unlocked price almost exactly what one might predict (assuming Apple's cut of the plan is similar to their reported AT&T cut).

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EU commission or other...

By Strunf on 11/23/2007 6:39:29 AM , Rating: 2

I think it's about time they look into this kind of crap and force all the EU countries to have laws forbidding linked products and services.

What I find funny in all of this is that not long ago everyone thought of Apple and MS like some kind of David vs Goliath epic battle, Apple my be David but certainly not one that is here to look for our interests, they are here to make us bleed as much as we can which is logical but tell that to a Steve Jobs fan...

"Game reviewers fought each other to write the most glowing coverage possible for the powerhouse Sony, MS systems. Reviewers flipped coins to see who would review the Nintendo Wii. The losers got stuck with the job." -- Andy Marken