The latter really - what can you do with an unlocked phone which makes it worth all that extra money...
Not getting locked into a new contract is worth a lot to some people. Here in Canada, you have to sign a new 3 yr deal, no exceptions. I'd gladly pay $1000 if that meant I was not under contract.
Thanks for all the info. It's an eye-opener how much people's bills are. Mine's £10 pm right now and never paid more than about £30 pm contract. Although I can understand when costs get high... I had a £200 bill when I got back from India.
The latter really - what can you do with an unlocked phone which makes it worth all that extra money...
some people are locked to a contract for another year or two, but want to use the iphone now.
so instead having two contracts with two different carriers, you can keep your old one and still use an iphone.
also: a lot of countries have very cheap sim-only deals.
if you calculate the cost of a regular t-mobile/at&t contract with phone and compare it to an unlocked phone with a sim only & data plan for the same period, you might get a cheaper deal that way and not be locked to this one carrier.
in europe a lot of people have pay-as you-go/prepaid plans. this is for those who don't call out a lot, but still want to be able to receive calls. you pay more per call, but since you pay as you go, you can choose not to call so much in months you have less money.
this idea wouldn't work in the US, because there you actually pay to receive calls, something we europeans think is ridiculous because then people with small plans would always cut conversations short when they're almost out of credit.
when you don't pay to receive calls, you can still have a long conversation with your richer friend, because it doesn't cost you a thing if he/she calls. heck! you could even call him/her and say that you're almost out of credit, if you could please call back?
but I'm losing my point here.
the point is that with careful calculations you might come out cheaper in the end if you can chose your own plan/carrier, even though the phone seems to be more expensive at first.
in short: unlocked iPhone spells f.r.e.e.d.o.m.
I still think the russian prices are too high though..
any other unlocked phone around the world sells for about the same price, this one is 25% more expensive..
Good god, at that price you'd have to be spending a mint on calls for it to work out cheaper, surely??
Using a locked iPhone on a two-week international trip could easily result in roaming charges that exceed the marginal cost of an unlocked iPhone. I would never, ever buy a locked phone. Ever.
Any estimated how many iPhones could be sold to Mainland China under the current plan? I remember reading that China has close to 400M cellphones... but that may be old stats. So what kind of penetration would be possible with price of $700-800?
I would have preferred a price range for $400-600 in a bid to gain market share not only in China, but also worldwide.
I remember the first unlocked iPhones last year in France. They were only unlocked within France, so only French SIM cards worked with it. What is the deal with this new wave of unlocked iPhone 3Gs? Are they fully unlocked this time?
So far, I heard that the hackers are having a hard time trying to make the iPhone 3G fully unlocked as in any SIM can be used.
Quote:
It would be interesting if annual iPhone sales in HK were to exceed the population of HK.
Haha, true true
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Using a locked iPhone on a two-week international trip could easily result in roaming charges that exceed the marginal cost of an unlocked iPhone. I would never, ever buy a locked phone. Ever.
That's the problem isn't it, imagine if a student who let say take a transfer program to another country and he have the iPhone with a tied contract, OMG! Image the bill when he make a call. Is there Skype on the iPhone yet?
So far, I heard that the hackers are having a hard time trying to make the iPhone 3G fully unlocked as in any SIM can be used.
That's exactly why I would never buy a locked phone. It's an arms race. The hackers eventually unlock each new firmware revision and Apple relocks the next one. Back to the drawing board for the hackers. It's far better to have a phone that is officially unlocked.
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Originally Posted by wheelhot
That's the problem isn't it, imagine if a student who let say take a transfer program to another country and he have the iPhone with a tied contract, OMG! Image the bill when he make a call. Is there Skype on the iPhone yet?
Think $2 to $10 per minute for local calls. Long-distance charges are in addition to the roaming charges. I change SIM cards nearly as often as I cross borders.
I remember the first unlocked iPhones last year in France. They were only unlocked within France, so only French SIM cards worked with it. What is the deal with this new wave of unlocked iPhone 3Gs? Are they fully unlocked this time?
That seems to have been due to a bug in the firmware which was initially distributed with the French iPhone. Officially unlocked phones didn't reject SIMs with a non-French country code with the "Invalid SIM" screen as would normally happen with a country-locked phone. Rather, it accepted those SIMs but subsequently the OS appeared to crash as soon as you tried to dial an outgoing number.
All reports I've read say that bug was subsequently resolved, and that all officially unlocked French iPhones will function correctly with SIMs from any country, once firmware version 1.1.3 or above is installed.
I will be in HK this October 2-5. Will I be able to buy the unlocked iPhone 3G in the Apple store in HK or will it be available only through the apple online store? Thanks much!
Comments
The latter really - what can you do with an unlocked phone which makes it worth all that extra money...
Not getting locked into a new contract is worth a lot to some people. Here in Canada, you have to sign a new 3 yr deal, no exceptions. I'd gladly pay $1000 if that meant I was not under contract.
It is not necessary to create one model of iPhone without 3G and Wifi function.
Customer can purchase through Hong Kong channel for iPhone 3G and use them anywhere inside China.
The latter really - what can you do with an unlocked phone which makes it worth all that extra money...
some people are locked to a contract for another year or two, but want to use the iphone now.
so instead having two contracts with two different carriers, you can keep your old one and still use an iphone.
also: a lot of countries have very cheap sim-only deals.
if you calculate the cost of a regular t-mobile/at&t contract with phone and compare it to an unlocked phone with a sim only & data plan for the same period, you might get a cheaper deal that way and not be locked to this one carrier.
in europe a lot of people have pay-as you-go/prepaid plans. this is for those who don't call out a lot, but still want to be able to receive calls. you pay more per call, but since you pay as you go, you can choose not to call so much in months you have less money.
this idea wouldn't work in the US, because there you actually pay to receive calls, something we europeans think is ridiculous because then people with small plans would always cut conversations short when they're almost out of credit.
when you don't pay to receive calls, you can still have a long conversation with your richer friend, because it doesn't cost you a thing if he/she calls. heck! you could even call him/her and say that you're almost out of credit, if you could please call back?
but I'm losing my point here.
the point is that with careful calculations you might come out cheaper in the end if you can chose your own plan/carrier, even though the phone seems to be more expensive at first.
in short: unlocked iPhone spells f.r.e.e.d.o.m.
I still think the russian prices are too high though..
any other unlocked phone around the world sells for about the same price, this one is 25% more expensive..
Good god, at that price you'd have to be spending a mint on calls for it to work out cheaper, surely??
Using a locked iPhone on a two-week international trip could easily result in roaming charges that exceed the marginal cost of an unlocked iPhone. I would never, ever buy a locked phone. Ever.
I would have preferred a price range for $400-600 in a bid to gain market share not only in China, but also worldwide.
Any estimated how many iPhones could be sold to Mainland China under the current plan?
It would be interesting if annual iPhone sales in HK were to exceed the population of HK.
I remember the first unlocked iPhones last year in France. They were only unlocked within France, so only French SIM cards worked with it. What is the deal with this new wave of unlocked iPhone 3Gs? Are they fully unlocked this time?
So far, I heard that the hackers are having a hard time trying to make the iPhone 3G fully unlocked as in any SIM can be used.
It would be interesting if annual iPhone sales in HK were to exceed the population of HK.
Haha, true true
Using a locked iPhone on a two-week international trip could easily result in roaming charges that exceed the marginal cost of an unlocked iPhone. I would never, ever buy a locked phone. Ever.
That's the problem isn't it, imagine if a student who let say take a transfer program to another country and he have the iPhone with a tied contract, OMG! Image the bill when he make a call. Is there Skype on the iPhone yet?
So far, I heard that the hackers are having a hard time trying to make the iPhone 3G fully unlocked as in any SIM can be used.
That's exactly why I would never buy a locked phone. It's an arms race. The hackers eventually unlock each new firmware revision and Apple relocks the next one. Back to the drawing board for the hackers. It's far better to have a phone that is officially unlocked.
That's the problem isn't it, imagine if a student who let say take a transfer program to another country and he have the iPhone with a tied contract, OMG! Image the bill when he make a call. Is there Skype on the iPhone yet?
Think $2 to $10 per minute for local calls. Long-distance charges are in addition to the roaming charges. I change SIM cards nearly as often as I cross borders.
I remember the first unlocked iPhones last year in France. They were only unlocked within France, so only French SIM cards worked with it. What is the deal with this new wave of unlocked iPhone 3Gs? Are they fully unlocked this time?
That seems to have been due to a bug in the firmware which was initially distributed with the French iPhone. Officially unlocked phones didn't reject SIMs with a non-French country code with the "Invalid SIM" screen as would normally happen with a country-locked phone. Rather, it accepted those SIMs but subsequently the OS appeared to crash as soon as you tried to dial an outgoing number.
All reports I've read say that bug was subsequently resolved, and that all officially unlocked French iPhones will function correctly with SIMs from any country, once firmware version 1.1.3 or above is installed.
I will be in HK this October 2-5. Will I be able to buy the unlocked iPhone 3G in the Apple store in HK or will it be available only through the apple online store? Thanks much!