its just a different business model, get over it. let the free market do its thing. this is exactly why i never want the UK to get more involved with the EU. its like stepping backwards in time
and the anti monopoly legislation is an american example! that it's not rigorously applied in the US or the UK is another discussion... but for apple it's a good thing to be able to be activated with not just one provider... for the iphone user there has to be no downside then in terms of EDGE and visual voicemail... otherwise the ruling would be a joke... how can a cell provider go to court in order to be able to sell/activate the iphone and then not be able to support all of its features???
vodafone germany has EDGE, but o2 and e-plus only have GPRS, which makes visual voicemail (works via EDGE) impossible...
i think vodafone noticed the huge success in germany and got jealous... with the 1.1.2 hack there's no need for this behavior for consumers since buying the iphone in germany is the same process as in the states... just not directly from apple... you go to a t-mobile store, leave ?399, and activate @ home... or hack @ home and insert your old provider SIM-card...
This is a 100% clear indication that the claim is substantial - otherwise they would take the risk of continuing for the next two weeks. With all that press and TV coverage, they have no other chance anyhow. Nobody will sign a 24 months contract, if there could be better conditions in two weeks and they would loose quite an important part of the holiday season.
Apple isn't following it's own marketing plot. On the one hand Apple condemns the "greedy music labels" for forcing the consumer to buy bundles of their products, but when it comes to Apple's own products it is ok to sell it just as a bundle?
Non shareholders should just STFU. They clearly have no clue, whereas a majority of us understand the master plan. This is a two-year strategy, and no foreign nation (if Steve has anything to say about it) will be dictating a damned thing to him until that two year period has expired. AAPL has doubled over the last year thanks to Steve and crew and their strategy, and GREED IS GOOD. What is bad is when talentless cowards attempt to stigmatize or otherwise criminalize profit and success.
You should get your head examined. Either you have a few loosen screws or someone replaced your brain with a sponge when you were sleeping.
It is always amazing and funny to see how most of you defending Apple on this one will bash Microsoft for everything they did in the past. In my opinion Apple is rapidly turning into something that not even Bill Gates would dare...
I make my money by not listening to small-minded and unrealistic reasoning from the mouths of those who feel that their personal brand-loyatly dictates that a company must kiss their ass for life. Your thinking is simply not in line with the natural order of things. Reality.
More and more you sound like a mid 40's Apple using hard-core koolaid drinker who suddenly does not like the fact that Apple, who has always marched to their own beat, is continuing to do so, and finally reaping the rewards of ten years of brutal effort and hard work.
What I take notice of is your entitlement, and how you think Apple "owes" you something. Want more space than an iPod touch provides? Buy a Zune.
Don't like iMacs? Scared they have issues you'll be stuck with? Buy a Dell.
Seriously. Vote with your wallet. I do, and so does the rest of the marketplace, and as long as we all do, Apple's market share will grow exponentially.
And if you really think it "Window Dressing", you were never a Mac user to begin with.
I drink wine, not koolaid; pleb.
Apple owes me nothing - except a working battery for the 3rd gen iPod. While the socialist US government has protected it's mollycoddled US consumers with class action suits, we in Europe do not have such recourse. So when Apple was forced to make good the battery issue in the US, they happily left those consumers outside the US suffer the defects in their product. I am sure you will find some way to explain the moral correctness of this position on Apples part.
"brutal effort and hard work" Study the working conditions in England during the Industrial revolution, the lives of miners in China and the 3rd world, the labour of peasant farmers in India, etc etc. That is 'brutal effort and hard work' sitting in an airconditioned office that you cruised to on your segway, clicking a mouse and moving lines on a screen with a CAD package is not my idea of brutal. It may be 'hard' in one sense, but I doubt it raises much sweat.
I 'am' voting with my wallet, a position I have made very plain, so why are you are exhorting me to do that which I have already said I was doing? A waste of effort on your part.
You sound like one of those Microsoft evangelists who defend every wrong and shortcoming in that decrepit company as if you were wearing rose coloured 'Apple can do no wrong' glasses.
I want Apple to be the best they can be. What is wrong with that? I don't think they are living up to their potential and I don't think some of their current products are as good as they could be? Again, what is wrong with my saying so?
As for business ethics and practices, I think Apple are slipping badly in this regard. The deliberate bricking of iPhones would be a shining example, their behaving like a distasteful corporate parasite over the iPhone would be another.
It all reminds me of the bad old days when Apple encourage other companies to produce Mac clones then a short while later closed them down. It did the same with Apple resellers, encouraging stores to sell their products then shafting them when they decided they wanted Apple stores.
Apple is becoming as morally distasteful as the record companies they have long been critical of.
I have a lot of respect for Steve Jobs, his intelligence and accomplishments. I think he could guide Apple to make just as much money, if not more, without all these negative practices.
Haha. Wow. I wonder if that price was set based on what Apple thought they would lose in profits, or just as a massive disincentive to buy it. I think I know the answer.
Haha. Wow. I wonder if that price was set based on what Apple thought they would lose in profits, or just as a massive disincentive to buy it. I think I know the answer.
I live in Europe and I have an unlock $399 8 Gb iPhone myself, but even at 1000€ it might be a good option if you get a good plan from a 3rd party, as the "official" ones are often very expensive 24 months lock-in deals.
Considering the abundance and much lower prices of unlocked iPhone, I think it's a more sensible option. At any rate I hate and never subscribe to these 12/24 months plans.
I live in Europe and I have an unlock $399 8 Gb iPhone myself, but even at 1000? it might be a good option if you get a good plan from a 3rd party, as the "official" ones are often very expensive 24 months lock-in deals.
Considering the abundance and much lower prices of unlocked iPhone, I think it's a more sensible option. At any rate I hate and never subscribe to these 12/24 months plans.
It really depends in the individual calculation - of course the price is just chosen at a point that is unattractive to most and might have a slight chance to delay the final decision of the court into next year - saving the holidays and big bucks. Not nice - but intelligent.
For me it is a no-brainer. I will buy it today or tomorrow - I still can write more than 1k off my tax record for this year, and it will cost me 0,- EUR, no matter if I pay 399,- or 999,-. At least I can use the unlocked version anywhere in the world with local prepaid cards (I spend 4-6 months a year in South East Asia and roaming charges are something like 3 EUR a minute - I would have that money recovered in less than 3 hours, even if I could not write it off).
The argument with alternate providers in Germany really depends on the location and needs. Without T-Mobile you will only have GPRS, not EDGE in most of the country - this makes Internet usage not impossible, but really slow and no alternate provider has that many WiFi hotspots - if any. You really have to compare all the details. There is not one calculation that would cover everybody.
Comments
its just a different business model, get over it. let the free market do its thing. this is exactly why i never want the UK to get more involved with the EU. its like stepping backwards in time
and the anti monopoly legislation is an american example! that it's not rigorously applied in the US or the UK is another discussion... but for apple it's a good thing to be able to be activated with not just one provider... for the iphone user there has to be no downside then in terms of EDGE and visual voicemail... otherwise the ruling would be a joke... how can a cell provider go to court in order to be able to sell/activate the iphone and then not be able to support all of its features???
vodafone germany has EDGE, but o2 and e-plus only have GPRS, which makes visual voicemail (works via EDGE) impossible...
i think vodafone noticed the huge success in germany and got jealous... with the 1.1.2 hack there's no need for this behavior for consumers since buying the iphone in germany is the same process as in the states... just not directly from apple... you go to a t-mobile store, leave ?399, and activate @ home... or hack @ home and insert your old provider SIM-card...
it seems t-mobile germany will start selling an unlocked sim-lock free iphone verison starting tomorrow!!!
i didn't think that it's gonna happen, but the rumor mill is spinning wild tonight in europe, especially germany and france!!!
i was completely wrong with my prior post.... sorry for misjudging the legal situation!!!!
Correct - unlocked distribution will (in line with the court order) begin Wednesday morning. Conditions (unlocked price) unknown as per now.
The full text can e.g. be found here (sorry, it is in German language): http://www.n-tv.de/881956.html.
This is a 100% clear indication that the claim is substantial - otherwise they would take the risk of continuing for the next two weeks. With all that press and TV coverage, they have no other chance anyhow. Nobody will sign a 24 months contract, if there could be better conditions in two weeks and they would loose quite an important part of the holiday season.
Does anyone know the price of the unlocked French iPhone?
Non shareholders should just STFU. They clearly have no clue, whereas a majority of us understand the master plan. This is a two-year strategy, and no foreign nation (if Steve has anything to say about it) will be dictating a damned thing to him until that two year period has expired. AAPL has doubled over the last year thanks to Steve and crew and their strategy, and GREED IS GOOD. What is bad is when talentless cowards attempt to stigmatize or otherwise criminalize profit and success.
You should get your head examined. Either you have a few loosen screws or someone replaced your brain with a sponge when you were sleeping.
It is always amazing and funny to see how most of you defending Apple on this one will bash Microsoft for everything they did in the past. In my opinion Apple is rapidly turning into something that not even Bill Gates would dare...
I make my money by not listening to small-minded and unrealistic reasoning from the mouths of those who feel that their personal brand-loyatly dictates that a company must kiss their ass for life. Your thinking is simply not in line with the natural order of things. Reality.
More and more you sound like a mid 40's Apple using hard-core koolaid drinker who suddenly does not like the fact that Apple, who has always marched to their own beat, is continuing to do so, and finally reaping the rewards of ten years of brutal effort and hard work.
What I take notice of is your entitlement, and how you think Apple "owes" you something. Want more space than an iPod touch provides? Buy a Zune.
Don't like iMacs? Scared they have issues you'll be stuck with? Buy a Dell.
Seriously. Vote with your wallet. I do, and so does the rest of the marketplace, and as long as we all do, Apple's market share will grow exponentially.
And if you really think it "Window Dressing", you were never a Mac user to begin with.
I drink wine, not koolaid; pleb.
Apple owes me nothing - except a working battery for the 3rd gen iPod. While the socialist US government has protected it's mollycoddled US consumers with class action suits, we in Europe do not have such recourse. So when Apple was forced to make good the battery issue in the US, they happily left those consumers outside the US suffer the defects in their product. I am sure you will find some way to explain the moral correctness of this position on Apples part.
"brutal effort and hard work" Study the working conditions in England during the Industrial revolution, the lives of miners in China and the 3rd world, the labour of peasant farmers in India, etc etc. That is 'brutal effort and hard work' sitting in an airconditioned office that you cruised to on your segway, clicking a mouse and moving lines on a screen with a CAD package is not my idea of brutal. It may be 'hard' in one sense, but I doubt it raises much sweat.
I 'am' voting with my wallet, a position I have made very plain, so why are you are exhorting me to do that which I have already said I was doing? A waste of effort on your part.
You sound like one of those Microsoft evangelists who defend every wrong and shortcoming in that decrepit company as if you were wearing rose coloured 'Apple can do no wrong' glasses.
I want Apple to be the best they can be. What is wrong with that? I don't think they are living up to their potential and I don't think some of their current products are as good as they could be? Again, what is wrong with my saying so?
As for business ethics and practices, I think Apple are slipping badly in this regard. The deliberate bricking of iPhones would be a shining example, their behaving like a distasteful corporate parasite over the iPhone would be another.
It all reminds me of the bad old days when Apple encourage other companies to produce Mac clones then a short while later closed them down. It did the same with Apple resellers, encouraging stores to sell their products then shafting them when they decided they wanted Apple stores.
Apple is becoming as morally distasteful as the record companies they have long been critical of.
I have a lot of respect for Steve Jobs, his intelligence and accomplishments. I think he could guide Apple to make just as much money, if not more, without all these negative practices.
No changes to the bundle tariffs.
Link (German document): http://mactechnews.de/images/content...iphonenetz.pdf
Haha. Wow. I wonder if that price was set based on what Apple thought they would lose in profits, or just as a massive disincentive to buy it. I think I know the answer.
I live in Europe and I have an unlock $399 8 Gb iPhone myself, but even at 1000€ it might be a good option if you get a good plan from a 3rd party, as the "official" ones are often very expensive 24 months lock-in deals.
Considering the abundance and much lower prices of unlocked iPhone, I think it's a more sensible option. At any rate I hate and never subscribe to these 12/24 months plans.
I live in Europe and I have an unlock $399 8 Gb iPhone myself, but even at 1000? it might be a good option if you get a good plan from a 3rd party, as the "official" ones are often very expensive 24 months lock-in deals.
Considering the abundance and much lower prices of unlocked iPhone, I think it's a more sensible option. At any rate I hate and never subscribe to these 12/24 months plans.
It really depends in the individual calculation - of course the price is just chosen at a point that is unattractive to most and might have a slight chance to delay the final decision of the court into next year - saving the holidays and big bucks. Not nice - but intelligent.
For me it is a no-brainer. I will buy it today or tomorrow - I still can write more than 1k off my tax record for this year, and it will cost me 0,- EUR, no matter if I pay 399,- or 999,-. At least I can use the unlocked version anywhere in the world with local prepaid cards (I spend 4-6 months a year in South East Asia and roaming charges are something like 3 EUR a minute - I would have that money recovered in less than 3 hours, even if I could not write it off).
The argument with alternate providers in Germany really depends on the location and needs. Without T-Mobile you will only have GPRS, not EDGE in most of the country - this makes Internet usage not impossible, but really slow and no alternate provider has that many WiFi hotspots - if any. You really have to compare all the details. There is not one calculation that would cover everybody.