14 DAY TRIAL // The iPhone 3G has been announced for Taiwan a while back, and now that it is finally official, it comes with quite an unexpected, highly pleasant surprise. After being said to be carrier blocked out of the box, when the device was tested with different SIM cards, things turned out to be much different than expected.
This report comes from DigiTimes, which states in a report that users introducing differently branded SIM cards were amazed to discover that their iPhones were fully functional, without needing any software hack first.
Since Apple cannot have made such a mistake, the only reasonable explanation is that this information was omitted, probably on purpose, to create even more stir around the device. This image “stratagem” seems to have worked, and should it really catch on, Taiwan is said to become one of the most successful markets for the iPhone.
Moreover, the version that comes unblocked out of the box is available for both the prepaid and postpaid units, thus offering more users the opportunity of purchasing a multiple carrier unlocked iPhone. The only downside, if it can be called that, is that such unblocked version costs more than first expected.
This is a normal course of action, which had to be implemented on a device that comes carrier unblocked out of the case. In order for you to make a general idea regarding the price, the contract free units will cost upwards of $800, while with the 2-year agreement deals, the refundable costs plus the real payments add up to about twice the value mentioned earlier.
Many of us were also surprised when Chunghwa spoke of its expectations for this phone's success, which seemed more than overrated at the time. However, should we consider that the company knew of this little marketing scheme, we can now understand the initial optimism.