Buy an unlocked, contract-free iPhone - thanks to French law

[consoles]

Orange to sell unlocked iPhones in France - Engadget

[eboy]

Waiting for the price, as It wont be cheap!

[Termy]

Waiting for the price, as It wont be cheap!

What do you expect for a handset of this calibre. There wont be anywhere selling these handsets cheap for a long time yet. And the only time they MAY sell them cheap is when a newer version comes out, like the 3G version.

[eboy]

What do you expect for a handset of this calibre. There wont be anywhere selling these handsets cheap for a long time yet. And the only time they MAY sell them cheap is when a newer version comes out, like the 3G version.

I mean how much will you be paying for it not to be locked extra on top, as its £269 at the moment, my guess an extra £140 just to have a unlocked iphone, thats what i meant by cheap.

Im not debating weather its worth it £269 that is as it looks damm good phone, but I won't be paying over the odds just to have it unlocked.

[bugnote]

am I right is thinking the iphone can be bought locked to o2 for 269 but no contract to sign in the store, you have to activate it through itunes as per U.S?

if so, it can't be long before its hacked, right?

any comments on this? I really can't be arsed bidding for one on ebay if I don't have to.

Cheers

Bug

[consoles]

your right but atm nobody is sure which firmware version the uk iphone will ship with.

[blaggard]

I mean how much will you be paying for it not to be locked extra on top, as its £269 at the moment, my guess an extra £140 just to have a unlocked iphone, thats what i meant by cheap.

Im not debating weather its worth it £269 that is as it looks damm good phone, but I won't be paying over the odds just to have it unlocked.

You'll be lucky!
the usual price for a sim free, new to the market PDA phone from the likes of SE or one of the Windows CE phones from HTC et al would be £600ish before discounts from companies like Expansys. I saw extimates of €999! for the unlocked iPhone NB: that's Euros in case you didn't spot it!

[canardo]

if you include the wifi and bundled data the 02 deals to me dont seem that bad? so if you want one and are going to use it, the 02 deal doesnt look to bad for not having to play cat and mouse with firmware updates?

02 Simplicity 15 (no subsidised phone) 200 mins 400 texts £15 (so they bumming you for 200 texts as iphone is 200 mins 200 texts)
Data Bolt on £7.50
Cloud Wifi single device £7 (for me personally I already have an unlimited openzone account so this isnt that great)

so 15+7.50+7 = £29.50

So 02 are charging £5.50 a month extra and loosing you 200 texts to get the firmware updates , visual voicemail and warranty! and locking you in for 18 months (this is the harsh part)


Agreed it would be better for it to come unlocked and its one of the reasons I usually get contracts from either carphone or 02 as the phones generally are unlocked, just with their rubbish branded firmware.
Id still like to unlock one just for the curosity! but in terms of iphone ownership is the 02 deal that bad, am I missing something or really if you are prepared to pay 270 for a device 18x5.50 isnt that bad to add on extra