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Posted on 11/21/2007 4:46:15 PM PST by Swordmaker
Deutsche Telekom was on Wednesday forced to start selling the iPhone in Germany without obliging customers to sign a mobile phone contract with T-Mobile, following a court injunction brought by Vodafone of the UK.
The German operator said the iPhone would cost €999 without a contract with immediate effect, compared with €399 for a handset with a subscription from T-Mobile, its wireless division.
Customers who bought an iPhone from November 19 could also have the SIM-card on their phones, which “locked” the handset to Deutsche Telekom’s network, removed, the company said in a statement.
The change in sales strategy is a blow to Deutsche Telekom which waged a fierce battle with rival operators this year to win an exclusive deal with Apple of the US, which makes the iPhone.
The device went on sale in Germany on November 9 but the companies changed sales plans on Wednesday to comply with a court ruling.
Apple has entered exclusive deals with leading mobile operators in several countries to sell the iPhone, on condition that the phones are dedicated to one network and the US company gets a share of revenues from subscriptions.
However, national laws in some countries prevent the US technology company from entering into such exclusive contracts.
Vodafone’s German subsidiary won a temporary injunction on Monday night that barred Deutsche Telekom from forcing iPhone buyers to sign a contract with it.
Vodafone argues that locking the handset to a specific network could be against German law.
The German operator said it would continue to offer the handset for €399 plus a minimum two-year contract with T-Mobile, starting at €49 a month. It added that some iPhone functions would still only be available with a T-Mobile subscription.
The company also pledged to fight the court decision. A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom said it planned to appeal against the decision before a deadline on Friday, after which it normally takes up to two weeks for the court to reach a final decision.
“We are confident that courts will back us. We had this assessed by our lawyers beforehand,” said a spokesman for the company, confirming comments by Philipp Humm, head of T-Mobile in Germany.
In France, where the iPhone goes on sale next Thursday, Apple chose to sell the iPhone through France Telecom’s Orange mobile phone subsidiary. But national laws barring the locking of phones meant the US company had to offer devices that can work on any network.
The iPhone will cost €399 with an Orange subscription. Prices of an unlocked phone will be announced next week, but are expected to be similar to those in Germany.
A spokesman for Vodafone in Germany said the company was not pursuing similar issues in any other countries.
Sounds like an job for eBayman! (Said with an echo...)
Wonder what the import duty is?
‘They’ are going to sell iPhone in Fairbanks starting 9 Dec. I will check into it, see what’s up.
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Hmm ... is there a european version of the restore file that is unlocked ? Can a U.S. bought phone be “restored” to an unlocked German version ?
For reference, $1,480 is the exchange rate with an abnormally low dollar. A German is really paying a bit over $1,000 worth of his earned money in purchasing power, including a (IIRC) 17% tax. I’ve always used the Big Mac index, how much a Big Mac costs here and there, to see what the real exchange rate should be. Interestingly, The Economist has started using this index too.
Go slow with me, what would be the advantage of an unlocked phone? What would you do with it?
Gee, I wish I lived in Europe (not).
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