Germans offered iPhone without lock or contract

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 22 November 2007 01:30

Your IT - Mobility

T-Mobile has responded to a German court's preliminary injunction by giving customers the option of buying unlocked iPhones.

Following legal action by Vodafone, T-Mobile is selling unlocked iPhones for €999, compared with the €399 charged for the device on a two-year contract.

The company has made it clear that it only expects the measure to be last until the court makes a final ruling, and is still talking about seeking damages from Vodafone.

The €600 premium is approximately half the cost of the minimum tariff over the two year contract, giving some insight to the cost of delivering the service and Apple's share of the ongoing revenue.

T-Mobile is also offering to unlock iPhones that it has already sold, but it seems those customers will be held to their contracts. It seems sensible to take advantage of the offer while it lasts, even if the owner has no immediate plans to use a different carrier.

Unlocking may be popular with people who travel overseas regularly and would prefer to use a local carrier's SIM in order to avoid expensive roaming charges.

iPhone buyers choosing to use other networks will lose the ability to use the device's visual voicemail feature. The T-Mobile contracts also include access to the company's network of Wi-Fi hotspots.

According to reports, Orange will also be pricing unlocked iPhones at €999 when they go on sale in France next week. When purchased with a contract, the price will be €399.

It seems that laws in the UK and US do not insist on customers being given the option of buying unlocked phones free of contract. The going price on eBay for an unofficially unlocked iPhone is $US500-600, whereas €999 is approximately $US1480. It therefore seems unlikely there will be much leakage of French and German iPhones to other countries.