14 DAY TRIAL // T-Mobile made a shocking announcement that it will start selling unlocked iPhones from now on for the price of EUR 1000. It's the end of Apple's reign and its policy of keeping the phone locked to certain operators.
Apple customers are finally done with having to put up with the disadvantages of buying a handset only in its locked version. Things haven't changed all that much when it comes to price, as the unlocked version costs just as much as it would on the black market. The only difference is that, this time, it's all legal.
T-Mobile's decision of offering pre-pay iPhones came as a result of the carrier's conflict with another German operator. Vodafone attacked it in court for breaking the competition law and preventing customers from choosing their service providers. It took matters into court and obtained an injunction against T-Mobile's iPhone sales.
As a result, the handset's carrier agreed to make a compromise and bring out an unlocked version of the phone, although for a much higher cost. Apple made no comment on this news, although it's surely not happy about it. The iPhone's producer managed to gain a percentage of all revenues that operators win from their customers' use of the device. Now that T-Mobile starts selling the iPhone without its services, Apple will see a major loss, along with the operator as well.
They had no choice, as a matter of fact. European countries have a legislation different from that of the US, which made the iPhone's release a bit more bumpy. In France, Apple had to settle with selling its handset in the unlocked version right from the start, as local rules allowed them only this option.
The iPhone has been available at T-Mobile Germany for EUR 400 and a 2-year contract costing a little under EUR 1200. The carrier will be selling an unlocked version of the phone for the price of EUR 1000 as well, from now on. Moreover, it promised to free from their contract any subscriber upon his/her request, although it did not specify the exact cost for this operation.