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Buy now and unlock or wait for Nov9th
- Thread starter DJS1234
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i was considering someone selling one on ebay for £299 plus £19.99 to deliver. then i sat in the feedback that someone had to pay £50 to customs.
Customs in the U.K. are very alert to stuff coming in from the U.S.A. at the moment, particularly as the exchange rate for us is so favourable.
I got hit for customs and handling charges on computer memory earlier this year, and it sours the deal.
In your case, you could end up paying £370 for an iPhone that you will be able to buy (with full consumer protection) for £101 less in less than five weeks time!
the thing is i can't get into an 18 month contract because i don't even know if i'll be living in england in six months time. for the same reason an unlocked phone is appealing.
of course i'd rather pay £370 to apple for an unlocked phone. they could get some money to make up for the loss of revenue sharing and i would have a warranty. but that's not the way it is unfortunately.
o2 are desperately trying to lure people like me. after having a contract for 10 years i am now pay as you go. on average pay as you go customers spend £8 per month whereas contract customers spend £32. with 116 active mobile accounts for every 100 people, the only way for income to increase dramatically these day is to persuade pay as you go people to get contracts. and since 65% of mobile users are on pay as you go, there's a big opportunity. iphone acts as an excellent carrot to pay as you go customers.
the situation is not the same is the US where 85% of mobile phone users have a contract.
Although I don't mind having a contract as it suits me financially, I too would prefer a sim-free option and would be prepared to pay a premium for it in return for the freedom to use it on any suitable network.
i wonder what's going to happen in france though. the news was saying yesterday that there's a french law requiring there to be an unlocked version of any locked handset on sale. there has been a big silence from apple and orange since orange said they were going to be selling it a few weeks back.
I just don't know how Apple are going to handle the situation where these local laws apply about unlocked phones. I believe that Belgium, or is it Holland, is another example.
Yes. I'd wait too.
There's a lot of potential in the iPhone and I'd hate not to be able to take advantage of that when it arrives (MMS, ichat, a2dp(!), notes and todo support could all come soon) just because I'd unlocked it.
Not to mention the lack of security updates.
It's worth the wait I'd say.
The French law states the unlock has to arrive 6 months after you take the contract out. Apple can keep the lock for 6 months.
according to news reports, it also states that an unlocked version of the handset must be sold alongside the locked version.
Does anyone know if when the iPhone France comes out if I will be able to unlock that and then use it on Orange UK?