DISQUS

In all countries in Europe you can buy phones both locked and unlocked, except in those countries where selling locked phones is illegal. There you'll get only unlocked phones. In Belgium you'll get only unlocked phones. In Italy most phones are sold unlocked too. In Finland for no locked phones are sold except for 3G phones.

In all countries in Europe where locked phones are sold you can get a locked phone unlocked (sometimes for a fee, sometimes for free).

Most countries have laws to this effect on the books, that are similar to those of France. It's just France that gets a bad rap in this respect at the moment because Apple just happened to run in to these laws in France before running in to them anywhere else.

If Apple had tried to get it's phone to Finland first it would have run into a similar problem. But Apple would also have run in to other problems there, as Fins are used to higher spec'd phones than the current iPhone, so maybe that's why Apple went to those countries first where the mobile phone consumer is less sophisticated.

Calling "technology" the most fundamental choice, one the European public has been deprived off is in my opinion wrong.

People couldn't care less about technology. They care about use. Features. Camera phones with megapixels. They care about being able to switch providers while keeping their number and their phone. They care about being able to walk in a shop, buy a new phone and walk out of it talking on it. They care about being able to give their old phone away and not worry about whether the person getting it will be able to use it.

So the user does care about not being in a walled garden.

There are users who do care about technology, true. I'm one of them. These users usually hate walled gardens too.

I've been testing the iPhone for the last couple of days now. As I'm in Europe it's a hacked one, so I have to be carefully that I don't accidentally update the firmware.

The iPhone has a very nice user interface. But I miss not having 3G on a phone with such a great web browser. And why do I have to jump to all kind of hoops to install add on software of the kind I take for granted on four year old nokias...

Apple will run in to the same problem in most European countries. Many countries don't even allow locking phones to a particular network.

However Apple can just sell the unlocked iPhone for a price that covers its costs plus whatever profit it wishes to make on it. In addition Apple still can get into mutually beneficial exclusive deals with phone companies, where people buying a contract with Apple's phone partner get the phone for a lot less.

hey I just did a post about them..
Haha.



come back texas please.



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