iPhone without Contract in Germany? - 999€ UPDATE: Confirmed + 600€ for an unlock!

[DaveTheGrey]

http://www.iphoneblog.de/2007/11/21/...rtrag-999-eur/


"Nachricht für den Vertrieb bei T-Mobile: “iPhone für 999 EUR ohne Vertrag”. Aus zwei unabhängigen Quellen per Telefonanruf bestätigt."

Message for the distribution at T-Mobile: "iPhone for 999€ without Contract"
Confirmed by two calls of unrelated sources.




UPDATE:Serveral German Websites confirmed the information!

http://www.winfuture.de/news,35905.html

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,518688,00.html

http://www.digitalnext.de/iphone-fue...g-erhaeltlich/

http://de.biz.yahoo.com/21112007/36/...-999-euro.html


All customers who already buyed an iPhone can get an unlock within 24 hours for 600€!

http://www.khessin.de/

[TonyHoyle]

That's a bit much.. considering the ipod touch is 299 euros.

Apple are basically trying to claim that a slightly bigger battery, a bluetooth chip and a 2G radio are worth 700 euros. lol.

The court hearing is going to be real interesting if they're playing games like that. Still, it's only for 2 weeks until the proper decisions are made. It's a symbolic price, designed to stall until then.

[CD3660]

Originally Posted by Dave187

http://www.iphoneblog.de/2007/11/21/...rtrag-999-eur/
"iPhone for 999€ without Contract"

Wow! Apple hits back!

Mind you, didn't the Nokia 8800 Sirocco (or whatever it was called) cost a similar amount unlocked?

[DaveTheGrey]

I can smell freedom

[colonelbutt]

Originally Posted by Dave187

I can smell freedom

from what, you still need a contract !

handtec are the cheapest and they have the N95 (not 8gb edition) at £421, HTC Kaiser at £419 and Nokia E90 at £616 so don't hold your breath over iPhone out of contract.

[DaveTheGrey]

Originally Posted by colonelbutt

from what, you still need a contract !

I already got one, which satisfies my cellphone needs. I really really don't like T-Mobile aka Deutsche Telekom.

[psychofreak]

Originally Posted by colonelbutt

from what, you still need a contract !

Pay & Go FTW...I hardly use my phone enough to buy a contract, and when I get an iPhone (estimating v3, as I'll get it when it can replace an iPod for me) I guess I'll put it on Pay & Go...

[colonelbutt]

Originally Posted by Dave187

I already got one, which satisfies my cellphone needs. I really really don't like T-Mobile aka Deutsche Telekom.

Depends which country are you are in.
but in the UK, O2 and Orange are the only options IMHO as they have EDGE

[DaveTheGrey]

Originally Posted by colonelbutt

Depends which country are you are in.
but in the UK, O2 and Orange are the only options IMHO as they have EDGE

I think this is a good point, but for me this isn't worth the costs. To look up something in wikipedia when I'm on the go, gprs is enough.

[TonyHoyle]

The iphones wifi handling is good enough that it really doesn't matter.. you're likely to have wifi at your workplace and at home anyway. Only matters when you're out and about.

At the end of the day phones and contracts are separate products. I wasn't forced to buy a particular brand of DSL when I bought my router, and similarly I wasn't forced to use a particular router when I bought my DSL. Don't see why phones should be different.

[Passante]

Lets see how many $1500 phones are sold.

I guess the next law suit to be filed against Apple will be for charging too much money for an unlocked phone.

[Eraserhead]

Originally Posted by TonyHoyle

The iphones wifi handling is good enough that it really doesn't matter.. you're likely to have wifi at your workplace and at home anyway. Only matters when you're out and about.

Then you might as well get an iPod Touch though.

[Sijmen]

Awesome! The price tags sucks though. If it would have been less, I'd cross the border as soon as my current phone dies, which it is busy doing right now already.

[raggedjimmi]

WTF, that makes no sense. An iPod Touch with Bluetooth, modem and speaker/mic does not add that much to the cost.

Bad Apple.

At this stage an iPod Touch is looking better for me.

[lord patton]

Originally Posted by Passante

Lets see how many $1500 phones are sold.

I guess the next law suit to be filed against Apple will be for charging too much money for an unlocked phone.

Exactly.

[Di9it8]

Originally Posted by TonyHoyle

That's a bit much.. considering the ipod touch is 299 euros.

All phones have a heavy subsidy from the service providers, with the iPhone, Apple were also getting some of the revenue. The iPhone is seen as an ongoing earner as well as the initial purchase value.
Therefore €600 is what they see as their lost revenue from each phone.
Whatever sim you then put in the phone will deliver revenue to the network and not to Apple.

[Eraserhead]

Originally Posted by raggedjimmi

WTF, that makes no sense. An iPod Touch with Bluetooth, modem and speaker/mic does not add that much to the cost.

Bad Apple.

If its legal that's all they're going to do. Given the same margins as the Touch they should be able to sell it for $100-$125/€100 more than the Touch unlocked.

Originally Posted by raggedjimmi

At this stage an iPod Touch is looking better for me.

I think this is true for pretty much anyone.

[nickane]

Not really that big a deal, considering there was already talk of them doing this in France at the same price, owing to their laws about phones having to be unlocked 6 months into the contract. I doubt Apple cares. Carrier-tied monopolies in those markets that don't have those laws yet (notably the US and UK) will be enough to keep the exclusivity relationship happy with AT&T, o2 et al. Besides, 999Euros is a pretty juicy mark-up.


Am I right in understanding from the main page, that ppl who bought their phones up until Nov. 19th, or since today, get their phones unlocked at 600 euros, but if you bought within those 2 days where the policy was being decided whilst the injunction was already out, you get it unlocked for free? Cos that'd be a stroke of good luck...

[ben24ben]

I think, Apple lost a big chance here in Germany, and maybe in Europe, too.

A lot of people here want to buy a iPhone - but unlocked and not with this Contract. Apple could sell 100 (or 1000?) Percent more here, if they unlock it and sell it for a good price (not the 999 Euro!) without a T-Mobile-Contract. Apple could blow away Nokia and Sony-Ericsson for years. I can't understand, why they don't do this.

[SayCheese]

Does this mean that some clever hacker somewhere will be able to see what is contained in the unlock coding and then unlock all 1.1.2 iPhones?

[ts1973]

This is a ridiculous price, of course, in order to stall things until the court decides different... or not.

Other than price however, in my opinion this move really hurts Apple's look and name. I call this a very bad move indeed, and it might even drive some Europeans away from Apple instead of towards them. I for one, as an inhabitant of Belgium where locked phones are forbidden, saw this one coming from the moment iphone was introduced .It made me buy a different phone a couple of weeks ago anyway, when it became clear that we wouldn't get any unlocked iphone in '07 at all, if ever... Now we do get one... but not really...

[thworple]

This brings up some interesting issues about unlocking fees for other countries.

While I don't expect unlocked iPhones to be sold in the UK at similar prices to those in Germany, surely this suggests that Apple/O2 will have to provide an unlock code to those who request it, at the end of the 18 month agreement that new customers in the UK have signed up to.

As I understand it, Ofcom rules state that providers must provide an unlock code for locked phones once the minimum term of a contract is up, but may charge a nominal fee (usually in the range of £15 - £30).

If T-Mobile are having to play ball with the laws in Germany (as they should) surely O2 will have to do the same regarding unlock codes, when this situation arises in the UK. As long as they don't try and charge £600 of course!

[paddykev]

I hope so;
this is ridiculous to charge that amount for an unlocked iphone. There are free tools available for unlocking the iphone at the moment, once hackers have the official unlocked iphone I’m sure it won't take long for them to figure out what has been changed and duplicate it again on current 'locked' phones... imagine charring $600 euros’ to get your iphone unlocked after you've already bought it which was expensive enough to begin with.
I hope the final outcome of this is that Free tools become available for everyone to unlock their iphone for free and choose which ever carrier they desire and that future apple updates don't brick them but even considering the updates for a second, how will apple distinguished between officially unlocked iphones and those that are hacked once hackers can duplicate the unlocking process done by apple....
like someone said previously ... I too smell freedom on the horizon for the iphone.

[phakebrill]

Originally Posted by SayCheese

Does this mean that some clever hacker somewhere will be able to see what is contained in the unlock coding and then unlock all 1.1.2 iPhones?

I sincerely hope so. I think that £720 for the iPhone is a TOTAL DISGRACE! Apple/T-Mobile aren't doing themselves any favours and should be ashamed.

IMO, anyone who buys the iPhone costing that much is clearly either too rich or totally dumb, or both.

[Xenious]

Originally Posted by SayCheese

Does this mean that some clever hacker somewhere will be able to see what is contained in the unlock coding and then unlock all 1.1.2 iPhones?

This is what I see as the key point in this. This means that there is a software update of some kind that removed any network dependance and (assumed) activation. Not that it is a surprise, but get an example in the right hands and you've got some definite possibilities.

The 1,000 euro price tag is about par for the course given other unlocked high end phones like the HTC advantage. No surprise or concern there, phones are pricy.
-Jim