14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has released today its new and improved iPhone 3G in 21 global markets, from Canada to New Zealand. All the new iPhones that reached the pockets of mobile users until now were sold only together with contract agreements from various carriers (depending on the country).
Of course, some carriers - AT&T included - have also announced the future availability of no-contract iPhone 3Gs, but it will take a while until this actually happens.
In Canada, besides being available from Rogers and Fido, the new iPhone is, apparently, available unlocked, too. The online retailer CellEnGroos sells both the 8GB and 16GB versions of the new iPhone, for $549 and respectively $649 (that's in Canadian dollars, which have about the same value as the US ones).
We can't know exactly if and how CellEnGroos manages to honor all the unlocked iPhone 3G requests, but the Canadian retailer says that it can ship the unlocked handsets in a few days.
While unlocked iPhones are against Apple's policy, they're surely loved by users, who would prefer to access the device with any SIM card (hence, any carrier) they want.
According to various reports, the first-generation iPhone was sold in hundreds of thousands of unlocked units, especially in China and other markets where the handset hasn't officially been released.
It's very likely that the iPhone 3G will be sold in lots of unlocked units too, especially since it's even more attractive than the original version, bringing GPS, Microsoft Exchange Mail, 3G connectivity and access to App Store (with an unlocked version of the iPhone 3G, however, the access to App Store might not be granted).
The locked iPhone 3G is offered in Canada only with a three-year contract agreement. Both Rogers and Fido have the same prices: $199 for the 8GB iPhone 3G and $299 for the 16GB one.