T-Mobile to open up iPhone sales
T-Mobile will start allowing German customers to buy Apple's iPhone without a contract to its network, as it moves to comply with a court order.
A German court has ruled that T-Mobile must offer the iPhone to everyone, even without the 24-month contract required for buyers of the phone, which went on sale in Germany for 399 euros ($591) on Nov. 9.
Its announcement comes after rival Vodafone went to a German court to challenge T-Mobile’s exclusive tie-up with the iPhone in Germany.
The iPhone made its German debut on Nov 9—available only with the two-year contract from T-Mobile. The German unit of rival Vodafone protested the practice of requiring buyers to be locked into a two year contract at a state court in Hamburg.
The court issued a ruling, dated Nov 12, barring T-Mobile from offering Apple Inc.’s iPhone exclusively with the minimum two-year contract, and from selling it with a SIM lock that prevents users from switching the device to other network operators.
T-Mobile said customers can now opt have the SIM lock on their phone removed, including those who have already purchased the iPhone.
Although Apple has announced sales plans for only the three largest European markets, limitations on whether carriers can subsidize phones exist in several Continental countries, including Belgium, Italy and Finland.
T-Mobile argues that tying a mobile phone to a contract with one provider is rare but not new in Germany, while Vodafone argues that all mobile phones sold in the country should be available for use with any provider. In turn, T-Mobile maintains that iPhone sales would continue uninterrupted, but warns that the company has the right to seek damages from Vodafone.
Vodafone of Britain had tried to secure its own exclusive European deal with Apple. Simon Gordon, spokesman for the company, said that the company was not trying to block the sale of the device but instead is doing its best to level the playing field in Germany. Vodafone operates Vodafone Germany, the No. 2 German carrier. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is the industry leader there, with 34 million customers.
The iPhone, on track to go on sale next week in France through Orange—a subsidiary of France Telecom—iPhone’s exclusive French partner, has not released details of the any contract, like the minimum length of the contract for locked models, or the cost of the unlocked model.
According to an analysis released this month by the consulting firm M:Metrics, the iPhone is competing directly with models from Nokia and Sony Ericsson, the two most well-known companies which have the widest offerings in mobile technology that offers combinations of digital music players and cellphones. The firm also said that the demand for premium phones and features was stronger in Europe than in the United States
