Last month, UK-based Vodafone won an injunction preventing T-Mobile from selling the iPhone with a subscription plan in Germany. The handset faced similar problems in France, where as per the French law, the exclusive iPhone provider Orange offers a SIM-free version of the iPhone along with a contract version.
Deutsche Telekom (DT) said that it will now offer iPhones exclusively with contracts. During the period the injunction was in effect, T-Mobile offered unlocked iPhones for $1,481 that discouraged sales due to high price.
At the launch of the iPhone, DT said that it would offer the handset for E999 without a contract and E399 for a two-year contract, at the conclusion of which, the handset can be unlocked.
Philipp Humm, managing director of T-Mobile said that the sale of the iPhone without a contract hasn’t hurt the business and that he is satisfied with the sales so far.
According to Apple’s go-to-market strategy, the mobile operators have to share a percentage of the monthly subscription revenue with Apple in exchange for exclusive iPhone selling rights. In September 2007, Apple’s spokesperson also said that the company would not support unlocked iPhones.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
