T-Mobile's iPhone service plans in question
Apple's European iPhone hopes may have suffered a set-back after Vodafone Germany won an injunction "...prohibiting sales of the iPhone in Germany" according to CNN / DowJones. However, the issue doesn't concern the exclusivity of the deal between Apple and T-Mobile. in this case, it's about the choice of service plans available to iPhone customers.According to a spokesperson for Vodafone Germany "[we are not] generally opposed to T-Mobile's exclusivity contract with Apple, but want to have these new sales practices examined....The restraining order doesn't aim at a total sales stop". It's worth noting that this is a solely German injunction: Vodafone have confirmed with us that this is purely due to local legislation and we won't be seeing a similar action elsewhere with other Vodafone territories such as the U.K.
Whilst the injunction has been granted, T-Mobile does now have 2 weeks to appeal, meaning it's unlikely that sales will stop before the appeal is exhausted.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MILE said 3:52PM on 11-20-2007
Actually T-Mobile has already announced that (even though they, of course have issued an immediate appeal) as of tomorrow at noon they will temporarily change their sales practices...! Whatever that's supposed to mean...
We'll know in about 14 hours or so, I guess...
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lowopp said 3:57PM on 11-20-2007
According to spiegel.de (http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/mobil/0,1518,518515,00.html) it's not only the service plans vodafone is fighting against. they are also fighting the fact the iphone is sold with a simlock, and that you can't buy the phone (from t-com) without a contract.
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svds said 4:44PM on 11-20-2007
I've said it 10 times before, in some countries it's just prohibited by law to sell a locked phone! We have the same law here in Belgium; the costumer always has te be able to choise what provider they use.
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Dominik said 5:06PM on 11-20-2007
According to Financial Times Germany (http://www.ftd.de/technik/it_telekommunikation/:T%20Mobile%20Flop/281529.html), Vodafone critizises that T-Mobile, which has a dominant position on the German market, does not follow regulations they are bound to oblig due to that dominant position. In other words: because they are so big, they are not allowed to abuse their power through strict contracts. That is, of course, precisely what they do with the iPhone. Vodafone aims it criticism at the fact that potential iPhone users have to select one of three contracts and cannot chose from the whole range of T-Mobile contracts (or without any contract at all).
We'll see in two weeks, how this ends. And tomorrow, how T-Mobile's immediate reaction looks like.
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DeWeese said 5:36PM on 11-20-2007
Well, with exclusivity for T-Mobile in that country... if that could branch to US after the AT&T contract runs out with Apple, it'd be nice to see a multi-carrier option for the iPhone. Plus that means I can use my T-Mobile sim card legally, haha.
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Orffi said 7:15AM on 11-21-2007
T-Mobile just announced that you can buy the iPhone for 999 Euro. This quite expensive version is not tied to T-Mobile network or any service plan.
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Thomas said 8:21AM on 11-21-2007
According to this german article, T-Mobile is now selling unlocked iPhones for €999: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/99335
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peanutnet said 9:10AM on 11-21-2007
sim-lock free iphone for 999,-- € from today - just announced from t-mobile
http://www.mactechnews.de/index.php?id=18440
http://mactechnews.de/images/content_images/iphonenetz.pdf
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