“A court order handed down Monday against Deutsche Telekom mobile arm T-Mobile demands that iPhone be sold in Germany unlocked and without a two-year contract, the Wall Street Journal clarifies,” Katie Marsal reports for AppleInsider.
“The German carrier has been given to the close of business on Wednesday to alter its marketing (subscription required) of the Apple handset to reflect the Court’s demands. The change in conditions will reportedly be valid until another hearing before a Hamburg court, which is expected in two weeks,” Marsal reports.
“For its part, however, T-Mobile is standing firm, claiming that its marketing model for the iPhone is correct. In a statement Tuesday, it said that sales of the Apple handset are continuing and that it reserves the right to claim damages from Vodafone,” Marsal reports.
Full article here.
There’s enough to go around for everyone… Apple has got to be eating this up!
Clearly the iPhone will work on other carriers as is clearly witnessed here in Canada. I, however, think that using an unlocked phone on another carrier is sort of pointless. these people will lose some of the signature features of the iPhone and some of its cachet is gone when you lose those features. I don’t see the point.
hey, i want a star next to my name too. how do i get that?
C O O L N E S S !!!
stars?
Very very sad.
I hope to see ALL products in Germany UNLOCKED and sold for everyone to F__K with which ever way they wish.
Therefore everything OPEN-SOURCE – free operating systems, no music shall be managed, no more shall we see need for lawyers because the final word will be, “ANYTHING GOES”.
hey not good in my mind but maybe everyone is happy.
I just don’t care if my iPhone is LOCKED.
It would be nice to choose a carrier – sure.
But then where does the OPTIONS stop?
Just plain sad.
Kirk, I got my star.
so what will happen to all of these telco’s pretty little exclusivity contracts when the courts rule that exclusivity is illegal?
I imagine that’s why Apple didn’t have much fear of signing 5 year contracts, because by then, they will be voided by legislation!
Or Apple will add audio in/out on the iPod Touch and discontinue the iPhone so that we can all enjoy free VOIP!!!
Gotta love those Germans sometimes……..
Just don’t mention the war!
It is about money for Apple. They have the exclusive contract in order to get back a portion of the subscription charge. It the phones are unlocked, Apple will lose bargaining strength. It will not make nearly as much money on the iPhone.
good one, Wandering Joe.
Just the right amount of Basil….
Seems good for Apple either way, although not sure how it will balance out…
They should sell more iPhones, but will loose out on service revenue sharing. Time will tell which is the better route.
I do not understand all the Fuss. T-Mobile will start to sell an unlocked iPhone for €900 and legislation will be happy. Vodafone gets nothing any which way it goes. Same as in France the consumer gets a choice in theory, but in reality no choice is offered.
Why doesn’t T-Mobile (and Apple) charge more for a phone that doesn’t come with a contract?
They’ll just raise the price to make up for the lost revenue. the consumer will pay one way or the other. The Krauts are out of their minds!
The rules are the rules. Apple and T-Mobile must play by the rules just like Vodaphone, which is all that they are complaining about. It is not right that Vodaphone and others should have to sell unlocked phones but T-Mobile not have to. Apple and T-Mobile are bad for not playing by the rules.
I think all phones should be “unlocked”.
I have been in the situation where I had to walk away from carriers because it was cheaper to pay a premature contract termination fee and start an account with a new carrier than to buy the “honestly” priced replacement phone. If phones were unlocked the price for phones would be cheaper in general.
Just my $0.02
Everybody is forgetting one thing: data charges
Apple has significantly negotiated downwards data charges and made them a simple, single flat monthly rate as part of the exclusive deal.
What are Vodaphone’s data rates in Germany?
Is this a scam to capture iPhone data and charge exorbitant rates? Or sucker Vodaphone customers who didn’t check data rates – rip them off with per kilobyte charges instead of unlimited?
@John, grwisher & Not bill,
The rules you talk about seem to suddenly have materialised on the advent of the iphone.
The European Mobile phone providers have prevented their subscribers from having fully functioning phones in order to cash in on the way they charge for the various services on offer.
For example:- the charge for calls & texts are different, data charges are even more, SMS’s were previously unheard of on a mobile phone before the iphone. Mobile phone manufacturers were limited in how much capability they could impart on a handset in order to sell it to the carriers therefor by default the carriers were preventing the advancement of mobile technology.
So why should they suddenly start kicking & screaming about Apple’s business model?
Why should they be allowed to interfere with what we Hoi Poloi want?
They missed the boat through their own choice when they were first offered the iphone.
I for one have no time for them or their ilk! Take Orange for example, did you know that they charge their customers for recieving voice messages? Shouldn’t their be rule against that?
If anything by this injuction, the court should also decree that free handsets should no longer be free because in reality, the customer ends up far more across the life of the contract than if they paid for the handset.
Mobile phones should be sold at market value free from a carrier or provider, customers should then be able to negotiate a contract with the carrier they think will offer them the kind of service they want.
Then & only then can they have the right in my eyes and the publics eyes to be seen as being fair.
Finally, the free updates that Apple inc. provide to protect the iphone user from data theft and hacking will be threatend because the revenue to pay for R&D;will no longer come through, that will then mean that iphone owners will have to pay a seperate subscription for updates just as PC users pay for anti-virus updates via subscription.
Which leads me to ask, shouldn’t M$ be paying compensation for releasing porous software that is costing business & users a hell of a lot of money & time?
M$ & PC makers have benefitted from years of creaming us all through the lack of choice over hardware & software just as the mobile phone providers have done when their was no rival to challenge the model.
Germans should be up in arms over this ruling just as everyone else should be. They choice they have been offered to break away from the shackles of bad technology from M$ & the providers is seriously under threat!!!!
Sorry about my spelling! I am irate over this issue because of the implication it could have in Europe & therefor Worldwide.
Some “their’s” should have been there & “The choice they”
Sorry!!!
The courts finally see the light!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
“If phones were unlocked the price for phones would be cheaper in general.”
Not likely. Phones are cheap because they are subsidized by the phone contract.
The only loser with lack of exclusivity is Apple, who would miss out on the monthly kickbacks from the network operators.
“I for one have no time for them or their ilk! Take Orange for example, did you know that they charge their customers for recieving voice messages? Shouldn’t their be rule against that?”
In the usa, customers are charged making AND receiving calls as well as voicemail.
Such a big country.
Soooo far behind.
But I am glad to have moved to a place where I REALLY can choose most things.
To : Crabapple
« Take Orange for example, did you know that they charge their customers for recieving voice messages? Shouldn’t their be rule against that? »
I don’t agree! It’s exactly the contrary! Voice messages are free at Orange and included even with their recharge cards use. I know I have one when I’m in France there.
And for all those catastrophic perspectives you describe, think about what is already happening in China with all those unlocked iPhones (even without chinese ideograms…) beginning to circulate without any Apple Store there. It’s a fist time Apple have at last a product in this tremendous market and they snob it…
The Apple / AT&T;business model is not even good for iPhone users who could not have an AT&T;network in some remote area in some american states…
Admit that : Those mobile phone carriers in USA are passé with their only 40% of GSM phones.
The World is actualy saying to Apple : «Get real! GSM mobiles are unlocked everywhere outside North America..!» The Apple-AT&T;contract is only a DVD zoning scheme remake or sequel…