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iPhone without Contract in Germany? - 999 UPDATE: Confirmed + 600 for an unlock!
- Thread starter DaveTheGrey
- Start date
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Anyone else pretty disgusted with the way Apple's been dealing with the iPhone?
Apple should have sold it unlocked, at £400 or so, from the start. End of. All this trying to get more and more money out of customers by nickel and diming them is making me sick. Apple has shown nothing but pure greed with the iPhone, at the expensive of those stupid enough to pay Apple four times what the iPhone costs to make at the end of the day.
The one and only reason the iPhone is locked to carriers in Europe is because Apple is getting a cut of the monthly contracts. Greed, in other words. Which means the poor SOBs who buy iPhones end up paying through the nose for crappy contracts just to line Apple's pockets (when they're already making profit on the hardware).
I hope the judge in Germany kicks Apple's ass for this. The iPhone is in no way subsidised and the only way Apple are going to be able to get through this is by saying that it is.
What's next, buy a Mac and you have to use AOL internet, but with "special" Mac data plans that are more expensive?
Apple should have sold it unlocked, at £400 or so, from the start. End of. All this trying to get more and more money out of customers by nickel and diming them is making me sick. Apple has shown nothing but pure greed with the iPhone, at the expensive of those stupid enough to pay Apple four times what the iPhone costs to make at the end of the day.
The one and only reason the iPhone is locked to carriers in Europe is because Apple is getting a cut of the monthly contracts. Greed, in other words. Which means the poor SOBs who buy iPhones end up paying through the nose for crappy contracts just to line Apple's pockets (when they're already making profit on the hardware).
I hope the judge in Germany kicks Apple's ass for this. The iPhone is in no way subsidised and the only way Apple are going to be able to get through this is by saying that it is.
What's next, buy a Mac and you have to use AOL internet, but with "special" Mac data plans that are more expensive?
Oh yeah, good idea. Here's another idea, try to hold that mackbook on your hear while making a phone call, and after you're done put it in you jeans pocket.
Oh yeah, good idea. Here's another idea, try to hold that mackbook on your hear while making a phone call, and after you're done put it in you jeans pocket.
My phone cost me 60. No way adding phone etc chips costs them 700 on top of the touch.
Thats a nice set of list you've got
PS. it doesnt use sync because God forbid if I have to download 8 gigs of data via bluetooth
You do know you are sitting there waiting for things that other phones have got already, and being excited about it. How long before the iPhone even matches the features of a common or garden variety Razr? When will it get voice dialing, or bluetooth sharing, or telenav, or a 100 other common things free phones have?
loads of you are completely missing the point
apple is aiming at the user who wants phone, email, ipod and the occasional web browse in style. they are not aiming at tick box geeks, they will all get HTC devices. they are not aiming at cheap/free phone people either.
the most attractive thing to me was the user interface and glass screen, believe it or not!
the iphone is a premium device - if you don't want it, don't get it and stop complaining.
The glass screen (on my touch at least) is amazing. I love it.
edit:
Of course you can complain. There's more than enough reason to, given Apple's greedyness concerning the iPhone. And yes, I know Apple is a commercial company. They have the right to ask this kind of money, as long as they comply with laws. And I have the right to complain.
edit:
Of course you can complain. There's more than enough reason to, given Apple's greedyness concerning the iPhone. And yes, I know Apple is a commercial company. They have the right to ask this kind of money, as long as they comply with laws. And I have the right to complain.
It's an important step, if and when the price goes down I'm going to Aachen and I'm buying that iPhone (closest German city to the Belgian border )
)
I'l second that, and im a european. pointless crappy laws stuck in the dark ages, that do more harm to the consumer than good. unfortunately fellow europeans are brainwashed narrow minded socialists with as much clue on economics as a xmas stuffed turkey.
I think it's good to protect the customer, to a certain extent. Certain things are not well regulated by the market - or take a longer time than desirable to do so. That's when some laws are useful, like those that regulate:
- Agreements between 'competetors' that artifically keep prices high,
- Vendor lock-in
- Warranty
I'm not aware of any legislation compelling companies to offer an option of unlocked phones in Canada - as far as I know, it's voluntary, just like it is in the States. I'm not sure about the legality of bypassing the vendor/operator entirely and circumventing the lock without their approval.
Anyway it's irrelevant in Canada, because for a GSM phone, you're locked by default into only one possible corporation (Rogers, aka Fido) to provide you with service, because there is currently absolutely zero national competition in the GSM telephony sphere.
And if a CDMA version of the iPhone comes along, it's entirely possible you'd end up with an even more difficult-to-break lock-in to one particular service provider, because with CDMA, the service account is not linked to a SIM card (a technology which was designed right from the start with the intention of allowing an account to be transferable amongst any compatible phones) - it is directly linked to the ESN that is permanently embedded within the phone itself.
Early adopters in Germany - though luck
I can't confirm that early adopters in Germany could unlock for a fee. I just been to the local T-Mobile Shop asking to unlock my iPhone which I bought on Nov 9th (first day of sale in Germany).
The pretty unfriendly staff told me that the court decision only covers iPhone bought after Nov 19th at that those will be unlocked and currently sold iPhones will be unlocked by default.
But for people like me, the brave early adopters (at least from an European perspective), no chance! That really makes those tens of thousands buyer very happy, I suppose. Although it is a great device, I' am really disappointed by the customer service. For me it is even worser, because all I want to do is use another T-Mobile SIM card in the phone (corporate one). I don't want to terminated the conract or something, just use a different SIM card of the same network!!
Cheers,
jackmewire
I can't confirm that early adopters in Germany could unlock for a fee. I just been to the local T-Mobile Shop asking to unlock my iPhone which I bought on Nov 9th (first day of sale in Germany).
The pretty unfriendly staff told me that the court decision only covers iPhone bought after Nov 19th at that those will be unlocked and currently sold iPhones will be unlocked by default.
But for people like me, the brave early adopters (at least from an European perspective), no chance! That really makes those tens of thousands buyer very happy, I suppose. Although it is a great device, I' am really disappointed by the customer service. For me it is even worser, because all I want to do is use another T-Mobile SIM card in the phone (corporate one). I don't want to terminated the conract or something, just use a different SIM card of the same network!!
Cheers,
jackmewire
There is no such law.
Provision of unlock codes by the vendor/service provider in the US is entirely voluntary, no matter what the status of any associated contracts. I see no signs of that changing any time soon.
The DMCA exemption doesn't affect that situation in any way - it only establishes that individuals can use unofficial means to unlock their own phones without the vendor/service provider's authorization, without fear of prosecution - as long as they hurry up and get it done before the exemption expires. That's all it does. It doesn't extend warranty protection to damage that was caused as a result of the unofficial means that may have been used to unlock the phone, and it doesn't prohibit vendors/service providers from making changes to try to prevent these unauthorized unlocking techniques from being effective.
And none of those OS-related features have anything to do with the necessity to lock the phone in to an exclusive service provider to provide network connectivity. They would operate exactly the same, unaware of anything being materially different (notable exception being visual voice mail), no matter what EDGE-enabled GSM network was being used to push the data onto the phone.
I read the first page and the last two pages and it didn't appear that anyone had picked up on fact that law/injunction directed against DT, not Apple. Apple has exclusive contract with DT to sell iPhone in Germany. Apple contractually gets paid part of what DT charges customers for providing continuing support/upgrades. For the moment, court is requiring DT to sell iPhone for use off the network. Apple still required to support/upgrade each phone (as per contract with DT) and still contractually entitled to $/month for that, regardless of what network it's used on (as opposed to illegally unlocked/hacked phones). DT made certain commitments and network upgrades to land iPhone contract, and is entitled to $$/iPhone to recover those costs. Analysts have previously estimated that Apple probably getting on average @$18/iPhone/month, but that really was just a guess. It may be reasonably accurate. That would be roughly half of the upcharge for the contract-free iPhone. The other half stays with DT. That might very well be a reasonable amount based on amount DT required to spend (fixed and variable) on network upgrades, etc. which it must recoup over time, and based on number of iPhones under contract (and obviously that will go down per unit as number of iPhones increases). The bottom line is that while the contract-free amount may be a bit padded, it's probably not nearly the gouge that some kids here seem to think. Introducing new technology is expensive.
Since you like the US so much I'll give you the typical US approach to that comment and suggest you move out of the wonderful socialist Europe and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
That new technology being visual voice mail? Because as I understand it T-Mobile already had an EDGE network.
And visual voice mail itself is pretty simple, you can now get it on other devices by simply diverting your missed calls to a 3rd party service. Its not black magic or the Manhattan project.
Apple is simply charging what they think the market will bear, but they have been wrong before, and they may be again. A fair price would be around 450 to 500, not more than double that.
who actually bought the 999eur iphone?
perhaps someone should really get it and make a "copy" aka clone the software somehow. then release the whole thing onto the internet, devise a plan so that ppl can "patch" the legit software to every other iphones...
perhaps someone should really get it and make a "copy" aka clone the software somehow. then release the whole thing onto the internet, devise a plan so that ppl can "patch" the legit software to every other iphones...
In Germany for example, you can have Visual Voicemail on Vodafone with every MMS-capable cell phone if you are in a 2 year contract - for free!
It works via MMS: when ever someone is talking to your voicemail, you´ll get an MMS with the voicefile attached. Just like on the iPhone
On what I heard, you havee to give your IMEI Number to T-Mobile.
They than call Apple and they unlock your phone OTA within 24h.
Not really. They are "babying" T-Home, but that makes sense because they have control over the wires to nearly every home. Mobile is something different. From the day GSM900 was started here, there have been two big operator (T-Mobile and Mannesmann-Mobilfunk (now Vodafone)). Several years later, two GSM1800 operators started (Eplus and O2)).
The regulator does _not_ consider T-Mobile to be a "monopoly" so they are not "babying" T-Moile more than the other operators. At least Vodafone is roughly as big as T-Mo (revenue, customer base, network coverage,...). So no problems here.
The iPhone won't be nearly as succsessfull like it is in the us. To have sucsess here, several things would have to be different, but Apple is a very us centric company. I don't think they would ever sell a different product "overseas" - they would rather sell no product at all.
But Apple isn't as strong here. IPods and esp. Macs are in a much worse position here, too. Germany is one of the few places where the iTunes Music store has a strong competitor. It's MusicLoad - whitch ironically belongs to Deutsche Telekom.....
Christian
Ha!
HA! You said RAZR! A phone that I owned for approximately 5 MINUTES a couple of years ago before returning it because is was such a piece of rubbish!
HA! You said RAZR! A phone that I owned for approximately 5 MINUTES a couple of years ago before returning it because is was such a piece of rubbish!
Nuf said.
Where are the iTMS shows and movies?
Why are we paying a premium on products way behond any taxes and import duties?
Where are the Apple retail stores?