Unlocked iPhone 4 up for sale

I suppose he was right. They didn't release them on wednesday.

Just dug into the comments. Not sure if that's traffic from HN or their own but a lot of people are now saying "You're wrong" in response.

In France, operators are required to unlock your phone on demand and for free, 6 month after you bought it.

It's a very different deal in the US.

It's new for the US. Canada had them for a while.

it took me a moment to realize this as well.

nice for us to be ahead, for a change… :)

$325 right now, IIRC.

Not sure I understand point #1. iPhones are built in China. Also, the profit margin is about the same as if they were selling non-unlocked iPhones as they get subsidized profits from the carriers to make up for the discount the carriers give in exchange for the two year contracts. The average profit for iPhone I think was reported to be $625 on average.

iPhones are widely available in China now. There is a 20% tax, but it is hardly worth smuggling phones to cheat the luxury items tax.

Apple's move to sell unlocked iPhones wasn't exclusive to the US market. They popped up on f.e. the Swedish Apple Store today as well.

Where are you getting the idea that the next iPhone is coming out soon? Base on rumors? By definition, normally the iPhone would have been out now if it was following the old pattern. Rumors have speculated Fall as well as early 2012. It's all speculation at this point.

I think the strategy has more to do with increasing reach and sales and maybe possibly due to the fact that they're potentially working on a dual GSM and CDMA compatible phone and may want to sell direct vs through a partner. Could be part of a larger plan (of course this is all my speculation as well).

If your phone is not locked then you paid retail for the phone. In the US there has been a long history of the carriers subsidizing phones (e.g. loaning you money to pay for the phone) and keeping the phone locked to that carrier for the duration of the initial contract. This kept phone prices lower and was previously not a major issue for most users since there were really only a couple of options available to them that were all approximately the same price (e.g. choose between GSM or CDMA and then choose one of two major players in each group.)

Laws preventing carrier locks are not perceived as bad, but Americans liked their phones to appear inexpensive and since we had far fewer real options when it came to the carrier it was not a major inconvenience.

Many Americans think any laws that tell a manufacturer how to sell a phone are bad.

Can you tell which these frequencies are? From my previous understanding, while there are many frequency bands for 2G, there's only one for 3G (2100 MHz)

Where in Europe? iPhone supports HSDPA on 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100

The iPhone is a global GSM phone, so it should work with 3G networks in Europe as well, since it is the same hardware that is sold on European carriers.

Was your Palm Pre purchased on T-Mobile's network? T-Mobile phones use lower frequencies for 3G that make them incompatible for 3G data with pretty much any other carrier.

Yes. Iphone 4 supports 3G on 4 frequencies, including 900Mhz and 2100Mhz that are commonly used in Europe.

It's the exact same iPhone that has been on sale via Swedish carriers, bundled with 3G/+ subscriptions, for half a year now. You can order an unlocked iPhone 4 directly from the Swedish Apple Store today, no need to import one anymore.

Firstly, it originates from the US, so I suspect they can make savings like that.

Secondly, US stores typically don't include Sales Tax or VAT in their listed prices. So I'm sure you'll pay 10-15% more on top of the price that's stated.

I'm from the UK where we pay an extortionate 20% on everything - however, every labelled price always includes this, which does help judge prices far better!

Because price is determined by willingness to pay, not cost.

Better yet: does iOS have a SIP client yet? Using a data plan without voice would be a lot more useful. (Been doing this for years on Android.)

Actually AT&T attaches a data plan to your phone if they detect it to be a smartphone. This is even if you go and switch Cellular data to Off in settings.

They were able to do that since they had database of IMIE for iPhones. So if they didn't have the IMIE info (say unlocked phone bought from retail channels), they didn't do so.

It'll be interesting to see if they can detect these new unlocked iPhones.

It's trivial. You can buy a SIM outside Retiro for like AR$5, or in a proper store for maybe AR$10. Might take a little more finagling to find a micro SIM, as most phones are still on the old SIM standard.

Here's what will kill you: getting data. Under what circumstances are you relocating to Bs As? If you are official, like you will get a DNI and everything, great, otherwise, this is the problem area. Most prepago plans in Bs As price data at piratical rates, like...a AR$20 card may include say 5MB data (on Claro). You open Google Maps and there goes your data allowance. I haven't found a provider with a decent deal on prepaid data.

There is, of course, normal postpaid accounts with more reasonable data allowances and pricing, but you can't get a postpaid account without a DNI, usually. Occasionally, you hear about someone wandering into a Personal or Movistar store and the clerk giving them a plan and saying its no problem, but that's rare.

Alternatively, if you're company or something is sending you there, you can see if they can get a phone plan taken out in the name of someone else at the company, with the company guaranteeing the payments. Because getting the DNI takes forever anyway.

I've had a Canadian phone for awhile. 2G works great for me, with a mobile 4G hotspot when I need faster network.

Try France & Germany: €629 all included, that's $910 USD.

That's still very cheap. It won't go for less than 1300 USD in Brazil, which really feels like 10000 USD if you take in account our average salary.

I believe it will work on 2G with T-Mobile. I use the 3GS in this capacity frequently.

My understanding is that you can use T-Mobile voice, since iPhone is quad-band, but not data.

I believe that StraightTalk (http://straighttalk.com) piggybacks off the AT&T network. However, they might not like you using that much data. American carriers generally restrict which devices you can activate on which plans in order to guestimate average data usage for that device. For example, Sprint charges an extra $10/mo for unlimited smartphone data over the unlimited data for other devices. So, StraightTalk might decide to disconnect your device if you use "too much" data and aren't using one of their devices. I'm not saying it's right to put restrictions on "unlimited data", just that they might decide not to serve you as a customer using a device they don't sell (and it might mean that you have a $650 iPhone that you can only use on AT&T).

It's also possible that StraightTalk doesn't rent 3G off AT&T. So, it might still just be 2G. For example, Sprint roams on Verizon, but doesn't roam on Verizon 3G, only 2G (except in former Alltel areas).

It should also be noted that over 24 months, the unlocked iPhone will cost you an additional $18.75/mo. So, you'd have to find a discount carrier that was a lot cheaper, not just a little bit cheaper. If you expect to upgrade your iPhone every year ($37.50) or 18 months ($25/mo), the unlocked's pricing starts looking worse. So, make sure to think about that too.

If you use T-Mobile, data will work, but the fastest you'll get is EDGE (at the moment, that's not actually as bad as it sounds; presumably because the network is less congested than AT&T's, the speed's not too much slower in 'real world' use). [Source: I'm using an unlocked iPhone I bought in the UK on T-Mobile in California right now]

I also use an iPhone on T-mobile. As jrmg said, you'll only get Edge since the 3G frequencies are different, but the speed is fine for most use. I also highly recommend T-mobile overall. Let's just hope something stops AT&T's buyout.

It depends on your provider.

If you got one in Australia under contract from Telstra they will unlock it for you for free. Handy for frequent travellers.

It's been available in the UK store since day one and that's probably true for most other countries. The US was exceptional in the sense that you couldn't directly buy an unlocked iPhone from Apple.

UK Store: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iph...