Buy.com Selling Officially Unlocked iPhones
By Ed Oswald | Monday, April 13, 2009 at 8:53 am
Who needs a jailbreak? In a fairly shocking move considering AT&T’s stranglehold on the iPhone market here in the US, Buy.com has begun selling unlocked iPhone 3G 16GB for $799, a $500 premium on the carrier price. These phones are not jailbroken: they were merely never locked to a carrier.
Apple will warranty these phones just the same way as they do the locked models. They will never lock: iTunes will update the phone normally. The only negative to Buy.com’s phones is the fact that instructions may come in a foreign language since they were likely made for overseas use.
So why the change of heart from Apple? It’s not too out of the question to think that the company is probably clearing out inventory ahead of a new iPhone release. Then again, it didn’t do this for the first-generation model, so thats something to consider as well.
Maybe, just maybe, Apple may have a change of heart on one-party rule in the US, but we all can dream, no?
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April 13th, 2009 at 9:11 am
$799 minus $299 (price of 16GB iPhone from AT&T/Apple) = $500 premium. Let’s work on those basic math skills!
The market for these phones has got to be tiny. I don’t think Apple has had a change of heart of AT&T feels the least bit threatened by this move.
Seriously, the iPhone is great but it surely isn’t $800 great.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I’d first check with Apple support if they will warrant / service these ! For example, Apple Germany will not service the iPhone i purchased in Italy. I had to ship it to Apple Italy for warranty repair.
I bet these are re-imported iPhones which Buy.com are selling. If this offer were signed off by Apple, they would sell them on store.apple.com not via buy.com !