How much would you pay for an unlocked iPhone?

Would you pay more money just so you could have an unlocked iPhone?

T-Mobile is going to charge the equivalent of $1,478 for an unlocked iPhone in Germany, after deciding Wednesday to comply with a preliminary injunction issued by a court at the request of Vodafone, a rival carrier. The carrier will continue to challenge the court's decision, but it seems that locking phones to a specific carrier is against German law.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

According to T-Mobile's Web site, "numerous functions remain exclusively available to T-Mobile customers with a Complete rate plan." The only feature that the company singles out as missing, however, is the visual voicemail. T-Mobile also says it has a more complete EDGE network than its rivals, but those looking to switch to Vodafone or other carriers may not care so long as they get data access in their city or town.

It will be interesting to see how much value people place on an unlocked iPhone. According to Reuters, a locked iPhone in Germany will cost you $2,330 over the life of a two-year contract: $1,740 for the service plan and $590 for the iPhone. T-Mobile said it will still offer that deal for iPhones locked to its network, and that the special iPhone rate plans are 40 percent cheaper than the "comparative use" of another data-enabled phone through T-Mobile.

To many, cell-phone unlocking is a matter of personal freedom, in that they bought a device and want to use it with whatever service provider they choose. After all, we aren't hooked to Comcast or AT&T's broadband networks for 24 months after we buy a new PC or Mac. But there's probably quite a few potential customers who don't care and just want to jump on the iPhone train for the cheapest possible fare.

One thing is probably certain: half the mobile phone resellers on the planet just booked flights to Germany. Unlocking iPhones wasn't too difficult a process before, but it did involve modifying software and was subject to retaliation from Apple in the form of software updates, such as the infamous OS X 1.1.1 update. A clean, straight-from-the-factory unlocked iPhone could command a higher price than one that had been jail broken and unlocked using the current methods.

Still, will it command upwards of $1,500 in order to make resale worth the effort? I have no idea, but there's no way in hell I'd pay even close to that much for a phone without 3G data networking or GPS just so I could run it outside of a particular carrier's network. And then I'd still have to pay some carrier how ever much a month, at least $50, to make it work. Even assuming that somebody offers me that cheap a data plan, I'd wind up paying $2,678 over two years, as compared with the $2,330 I'd pay over the life of T-Mobile's two-year contract.

That, of course, is probably not a coincidence. T-Mobile might have to offer an unlocked iPhone, but there's apparently no requirement as to how much they have to charge for it. And if Apple struck the same kind of revenue-sharing deal with Deutsche Telecom, T-Mobile's parent, as it did with AT&T, the companies have to come up with some way to make sure Apple gets its cut.

Apple and Orange (ha!) will also have to offer an unlocked iPhone for the French market to comply with that country's telecom laws. The phone will go on sale next week, and will command a "premium" price, according to the International Herald Tribune.. Now maybe we have some idea of just how much a premium, but will people be willing to pay?

[raulmot]

How much would I pay?

I'd say $399 US is a fair amount for an unlocked iPhone. Which is what I did by buying it at an Apple store and unlocking it myself. $299 for the 4GB version was an even better deal. That had put it in the same league as other unlocked phones with wi-fi and it included the 4GB of memory which no one else had at that price.

I'm sure, soon enough, the hackers will be able to reverse-engineer the factory unlocked units and make upgrading firmware smoother, but it's really not that hard at the moment either, just a nuisance.

[ewsachse]

Nothing

Nothing. Anyone who pays $1,500 deserves to live on the streets in complete destitution when they approach retirement age.
There are better things to spend your money on. You might try saving some money for the future as well.

[RompStar_420]

amen brother, amen

Anyone who pays $1500 or whatever the ridiculess price is for that is an idiot x 10.

RompStar

[Maclover1]

I could not agree

more. I love apple products, but this one is just way to much for way to little.

Maybe its the fact that I have never liked small devices that try to do everything. I have a notebook, more than one which does everything better than a iphone. I have an MP3 player that has a 30gig HD in it. For making phone calls, nothing beats my free RAZR....nothing.

For work I have use a number of Black Berries and WM phones. All of them are more open than the iPhone, but GOD help me if I am forced to use another WM phone. I have had 4 so far, all of them are slow and proned to locking up.

[supesguy]

I'd pay 399 for an unlocked iPhone

It would be really convenient to have an unlocked iPhone that is immune to bricking from software updates. However, I think few people will find it's worth paying an $1100 premium for that convenience. Especially when unlocking an iPhone is free and becoming increasingly easy to do.

[MyTonyTiger]

Not unreasonable .

I don?t think it?s unreasonable at all for a manufacturer to say ?This device is only to be used with this service.?

For example, Comcast has a receiver/DVR that is manufactured by Motorola. I?m pretty sure you can?t use it with Dish Network, DirecTV, or COX services. I don?t hear anyone getting upset about that though. When you change service, you change equipment. It?s been that way for a long time.

I think that if T-Mobile and Apple wanted to limit the phone to one service, they should have bundled the phone with the service, charging a monthly fee for the phone, much like cable providers do for their equipment, and not selling the phone separate from the service.

[Penguinisto]

Just one snag...

...I don't store personal info on my Cable box
(yes, someone will mention TiVO, but in that particular case I don't use that for long-term storage of anything. If I want to keep a show, I'll stream it to my PC vidcap card and save it there).

But, TiVO (and the like) still contain no personal data - no phone numbers, no games and their high scores, no emails, none of that. a iPhone holds all of that and more. That makes things a bit more personal to a user.

Well, that and one doesn't typically carry a cable box around in a pants pocket or hold one up to the ear, either.

It's pretty different once you start digging into the details.

/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

Yes.... and no

My RAZR phone is locked to Sprint. I bought it through them and I can't use it on any other network. I know this and accept that. While I was buying that, a customer who had their own RAZR from AT&T wanted to switch to Sprint, but use their own phone. No, even though they are both the same model, you had to buy a new phone from Sprint. The phones were hard locked to each carrier. That's part of the deal the carrier and OEM have to offer subsidized phones.

I don't have any real issue with that. I knew it going in and that's fine.

It should be interesting to see how this settles out. I'd especially like to know what Apple's stand is on this, but they are close-lipped about all their activities so nothing will be forthcoming any time soon.

[DrtyDogg]

Comcast

I recently switched from comcast to Verizon Fios and they use the exact same DVR box, just the software is different.

[chonnom]

apples and oranges

nobody complains because every other entity has the same box with the same functions and offers it for little or free with service. Apple did this to themselves by marrying AT&T instead of releasing the phone to every provider that wanted it (which makes complete sense, economically...more phones, more sales, more $).

[Gunady]

Why needs to lock phone?

Most phones are not locked the phone and once it's released, it will be available in the international market in short period. But why does apple needs to lock the phone and make it so difficult to release to international market? Is it just a greed to earn more from contract agreement?

Now, the locking process became more serious complicated in certain country, cause it violate with the country regulation. I am not sure how long i should wait to release in Asia, or should I just buy the unlocked one? hmm..

[fortheclueless]

totally hypocritical move on the part of Vodafone

I think this move by Vodafone is completely ridiculous. It was
okay for them to have exclusivity when they were negotiating
with Apple. It was their decision to walk away sighting
unfavorable financial terms by Apple. So now their competition
bites on the phone and they whine about anti-competitive
practices? It isn't like they weren't given ample opportunity to
offer the phone to their customers.

Also, in Europe, you can either buy a phone and sign a contract
in order to get a subsidy, or you pay full price and can take that
phone wherever you like. Since the result is the difference Apple
would make of the subscription had the consumer done
business with the exclusive carrier, and the result is a phone
with a steep uplift, I think people will leave Vodafone in droves
for the phone. This is evidenced by what happened to many
Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile customers here in the US. I think
T-Mobile is doing the right thing and I have to say tuff luck to
vodafone. That's business! You pass your opportunity that
already had proven track records of success and that's your own
fault. America was a test case, European carriers had all the
evidence they needed to make a decision. Vodafone's greed will
be their end in time, as will Verizon's. Of course, since Verizon
Wireless is half owned by Vodafone, Those idiots passed up this
opportunity twice! How dumb and greedy can you be?

[Iron_Newt]

Not quite accurate, and beside the point

Thats not really accurate. First off, even if Vodafone wanted to do business with Apple, it does not mean that Apple has to do business with them. It may not have been their fault at all. Secondly, as it is stated in the article, German LAW requires all phones to be unlocked. The reason it is cheaper to buy it with a contract is exactly that fact- they have you under a contract, and they end up making the same, if not more, profit. The law does not limit the company from giving ridiculous incentives to buy the phone with a contract. Instead it ensures consumer freedom. In other words, if this suit had not come from Vodafone it would have from O2, E-Plus, and so on, or even from a disgruntled former Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile's mother company) customer or worker. All in all, even though it may be slightly hypocritical, in that Vodafone may or may not have tried to get away with the same thing, but also a smart business move, to try and avoid losing customers. Either way, what it comes down to, is that it was against the law.

[rnieves1977]

time to book a flight to germany

Their gonna make a killing out there. I wonder how much tickets are out there.

ALSO, the hacked phones have an app that you can download called Navizon which works as a psuedoGPS system. It's incredibly accurate and relies on triangulation of your signal between cell towers. It's free and you can turn on buddy tracking if you're into stalking and what-not

[The_Decider]

$199

If that much.

There are phones in the $300-$400 range that have more features and lack that smudgy. annoying to use touch pad.

The iPhone is overhyped garbage. Maybe by v3 it will be worhtwhile, but not now.

[satayboy]

exchange rates

That sounds like a lot of money to someone in the United States, but consider how much the Euro has appreciated with respect to the dollar: http://www.kshitij.com/graphgallery/eurma.shtml. Pretty any overseas price will sound excessive when quoted in USD.

[Iron_Newt]

burgers!

The whole point of exchange rates is that it is that it makes the worth of the money equal. AKA a burger there and a burger here will both come out to about the same USD. In practice thats not quite the case, but thats b/c of supply/demand.

[cooperalex2004]

List Price!

I wouldn't pay more than list price, I have AT&T so why unlock...

[gsmiller88]

Hmm....No more than $500

$1,500 is waaaay too much for a phone. I can almost get my
MacBook for that!