T-Mobile to Sell Unlocked iPhones in Germany

[Cody Overcash]

Yeah yeah I know, getting this news up a little late.

Guess what? Vodafone's legal pressure on T-mobile Germany has forced the sale of the first OEM unlocked iPhone. What does this prove? Yes there are factory unlocked iPhones. What does this mean? At first glance, not much, you can buy a factory unlocked iphone in Germany for a whopping $1,482 USD.

Upon further thinking this does open up some possibilities. Specifically, unlocking methods. What if one were to figure out what was different on the files of a factory unlocked iPhone, and make the appropriate changes to a locked phone? Restore and upgrade same unlocking? We'll see . . .

via computerworld

thanks fuzzy

[xandili]

I am trying hard to get my hands on it, just need to to talk my friends into buying one, lol

[mofolo]

you know how sweet this is..

This unlocked iphone will be examined from top you bottom, and compared to the US iphones.

The next anysim will be sweet

[yowiphone]

HOW WILL the next anysim be sweet?

[MX-Drew]

This is very bad news, let me explain, if Apple are forced to sell unlocked phones the price will (as already seen) be sky high and to end the flood of "cheap" iPhones on the market ready to be unlocked you will have to open a contract before leaving the store as per any other mobile phone.

End result not good news if you need to get an iPhone.

[alexblanchard2]

From what i've heard - Apple register your phones IMEI number and somehow unlock it remotely - this is like the IPSF, apart from the fact that software does not need to be run on the phone - is it done by iTunes? - either way - it opens up new possibilities for the hackers (of the good kind).

[alabak2002]

I don't think the unlocked phones will be so high on the future.

The german price is just a workaround to Vodafone's legal actions. "You want it unlocked?. Here you have, pay me double of the cost of having mine with a contract. Take it or leave"

Nobody sane enough is gonna pay 1000 USD (almost my monthly income)for an unlocked phone, when he can get one from eBay seller for half that amounr, or just stick with a contract one (and unlock it for other use if needed).

BTW, I'm selling unlocked units here on Spai for 600 euros (840 USD), so there are enough insane people out there to feed me

[sLevin1fo]

I know for a fact that if you have been with AT&T for a certain amount of time. You can call them and tell them you are going out of the US and would like your phone unlocked. They ask for the IMEI and they will give you a SIM PIN UNLOCK Code. My friend got his HTC Tilt Unlocked by AT&T for free. So does anyone know if AT&T could do this for the iPhone?

[jedinight]

yeah after your two year service contract is up!!!!!!!!!!

[Hackme]

I know for a fact that if you have been with AT&T for a certain amount of time. You can call them and tell them you are going out of the US and would like your phone unlocked. They ask for the IMEI and they will give you a SIM PIN UNLOCK Code. My friend got his HTC Tilt Unlocked by AT&T for free. So does anyone know if AT&T could do this for the iPhone?

I have read about people trying this before with iPhone but AT&t says that if they could unlock the phone after that certain amount of time then they would but only apple can do that and there's nothing they can do.

[XFaega]

I already tried getting AT&T a month ago to send me a unlock code but AT&T refused to do so because of the contract they have with Apple and Apple with AT&T. But now seeing that AT&T are not the only company with the iPhone it might change things.

[vaughnhenry2]

Yeah yeah I know, getting this news up a little late.

Guess what? Vodafone's legal pressure on T-mobile Germany has forced the sale of the first OEM unlocked iPhone. What does this prove? Yes there are factory unlocked iPhones. What does this mean? At first glance, not much, you can buy a factory unlocked iphone in Germany for a whopping $1,482 USD.

Upon further thinking this does open up some possibilities. Specifically, unlocking methods. What if one were to figure out what was different on the files of a factory unlocked iPhone, and make the appropriate changes to a locked phone? Restore and upgrade same unlocking? We'll see . . .

via computerworld

thanks fuzzy

Hopefully they wont lower the price 1 month after the release so the early adopters wont get screwed

[guyverunit]

did we forget that in France the government doesn't allow locked phones? so there will be an unlocked phone there too and i think they have a locked one as well. always struck me as weird but anyway the point is that i think they won't be as expensive as the German ones.

im sure this is also going to have an impact on the law suits here. we will see.

and wouldn't AT&T not being able to unlock the iphone be a breach of there contract? they do state that they can unlock a phone after a certain period. hmmmmm....

or maybe not...

"although many sites are reporting that the iPhone is coming unlocked in France, quoting an INH article, Apple told us that the piece was based solely off of reading French Law, not from statements by Orange or Apple. The particulars of pricing plans and whether the iPhone will or won't be unlocked is still up in the air, so don't start pulling out your credit cards for a French iPhone just yet. However, because there is such a law that "forbids bundling the sale of a mobile phone and a mobile operator", there still may be hope for an unlocked iPhone."

guess we will see...

[travelbytommy]

I think we need to find a way to get ahold of the people that would pay the high price for the factory unlocked ones. Maybe get our hands on one or two, but other than that show that we don't want their high priced unlock and unlock our own for cheap. I feel that the high price is probably the amount they would get with the contract so the greedy companies are still winning.

I actually have AT&T, but I want my phone unlocked because of the principle. I know that those companies can't stand the lost profits because of us but we need to show them internationally what we have shown here and that is that we are here to stay.

[muccaeppollo]

The first SIM-unlocked iPhones went on sale in Germany on November 21st with a considerable (600 euro) premium over the usual SIM-locked iPhones. "Unlocked" simply means that the phone is not tied to any one network provider (such as AT&T or T-Mobile) and can accept any SIM card.

The unlocking process is as follows: You simply buy a regular iPhone ("locked") and pay the additional premium (999 euro total). Your iPhone's IMEI number is recorded and sent to Apple. After 24 hours or so, Apple's database is updated. At this stage, once you connect your iPhone to iTunes, the iPhone is automatically unlocked in a process that is described as taking only "seconds". You can then proceed to sync your now-unlocked iPhone with iTunes. The firmware remains at version 1.1.2 after the unlock. The process raises a number of questions and also opens the possibility of unauthorized unlocking solutions to become readily available.

[DoerrFan]

Well you actully unlock it through iTunes from what im reading, heres hoping we get a hold of this trick

[muccaeppollo]

Well you actully unlock it through iTunes from what im reading, heres hoping we get a hold of this trick

I'm actually just quoting MacRumors.

I've a 1.1.1 unlocked 4GB (so US) iPhone. Just waiting an official PF guide for Mac to upgrade to 1.1.2

[chris52204]

I know for a fact that if you have been with AT&T for a certain amount of time. You can call them and tell them you are going out of the US and would like your phone unlocked. They ask for the IMEI and they will give you a SIM PIN UNLOCK Code. My friend got his HTC Tilt Unlocked by AT&T for free. So does anyone know if AT&T could do this for the iPhone?

How can at&t give you a sim pin to unlock this? If that was the case everybody that is waiting for an unlock method for the 1.1.2 otb would have already had their iphones unlocked. Somebody would have had an imei calculator and we all would have already got our sim pins someway or another and would have unlocked them. I have a lock iphone here and when I put my tmobile sim card it does not say incorrect sim please input sim pin to unlock it.