“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.
@Crabapple
…”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.” …
Get a grip –
Sorry, but are you completely and utterly bonkers. I mean, I love the iPhone as much as you, but, to imply that the iPhone is or was responsible for SMS gaining traction in Europe is crazy talk. SMS has been on a massive bender since 2000.
Is it not normal for charges to be different between calls, SMS and data, every network is different on these, it’s swings and roundabouts in the main, most people choose the one that seems right at the time.
…SMS’s were previously unheard of on a mobile phone before the iphone …. Ha Ha that is soooo feck’n funny.
“SMS’s were previously unheard of on a mobile phone before the iphone. “
The European mobile market cannot be equalled to the US-market, and is much more mature on some aspects. SMS is massive over here since many years, a cornerstone of most peoples use of mobile phones. So are some other services. Laws that prevent lock-ins have forced various features become available to the consumer because of fierce competition between the many mobile operators.
Apple’s iPhone has some very good offerings: the elegant voice mail for example. But they need to realise that they have to compete on features and other quality aspects, not on (Microsoftian) lock-ins which are mostly prohibited here.
Apple has nothing to fear imho in a non-lock-in market, and everything to gain.
In Germany from today on (21 November 07) T-Mobile will sell iPhone for 999.- Euros without sim-card lock and free to be used in competitors phone networks.
Thats 1,479.71 US$ considering todays Euro/ US dollar exchange rate