What is Digg?178 Comments
- Quix, on 10/12/2007, -5/+103I'd love to see Apple shake up the cellular business like they shook up the music business. The cellular market desperately needs a swift kick to the head. Horrendous service, infuriatingly complex, overpriced, and restrictive calling plans, and crippled phones. What a racket. Maybe my cell bill wouldn't be so high if there weren't cell phone stores, kiosks, and packs of salespeople every 20 feet.
This is a market that needs the Apple touch. - juanotejano, on 10/12/2007, -3/+68That would certainly increase their ability to sell it because I don't want to have to deal with changing carriers or getting a new plan but I would definitely get one if it is as hassle free as it could be.
- finkployd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28The default/norm for phones in the US is locked phones with long contracts and functionality removed by the provider.
- kanecorp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27most phones are locked to specific carriers here. its a real pain.
- sdrawkcaB, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27I can see it being offered through most carriers and also having the option to buy it direct from apple unlocked. Ideally I think that would be the best route to go with. Next in line: purchasing a Macbook Pro and getting a discount on an iPhone!
- flamingmb, on 10/12/2007, -9/+34oh ***** that would be nice.
- abbott75, on 10/12/2007, -7/+31@DollaDollaBill - You do realise this is digg.com, don't you?
- intricate, on 10/12/2007, -11/+33iLike
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+30Let me spell it out for people, because I am sure no one has ever said it like this. NOBODY GIVES A ***** ABOUT BUYING MUSIC FROM A CELL PHONE.
I want a phone that makes calls, has address book and can sync with my computer (addressbook and calendar) THATS ALL FOLKS
Idiots and children like music on their phones, thats it. - malliemcg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19I must admit I'm somewhat confused what the big deal is with locked/unlocked phones and why this seems to garner news.
In Australia - most phones are unlocked, those that are locked are pre-paid ones that you carriers will unlock after 12 months for free, at which point you stick what ever SIM in it you want. If you get a phone "free" on a Xmonth contract, in most cases you can place any SIM in it you like, so long as you keep paying your monthy fee.
What is the default/norm for phones in the US? - jtizzle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17"a real pain" doesn't even begin to describe it. As new phones come out, we are forced to change services, or wait at least a year until we can obtain the same hardware on our existing carrier.
- LeonThePro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16"Idiots and children like music on their phones, thats it."
How true. Know what else is true? Idiots and children spend A LOT of money. - javip, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Wow, I didn't realize the concept of unlocked phones was so big in America..
I couldn't imagine ever buying a locked phone, what's the point - djoek, on 10/12/2007, -6/+18TopherT, you are an idiot. Get off your horse and out of your ranch.
The rest of the world uses GSM plenty, and locked cellphones are almost USA exclusive.
Bundling locked phones for cingular only is limiting your potential market. Apple aims for the civilised part of the world too.
This is not Thinking Different at all, this is common sense, a very rare commodity in the US. But please, go ahead and whine on forums why Europe and Asia get all the cool cellphones first - DjSandman87, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Sucks for people like me with CDMA (Verizon, alltel etc. with no sim cards)- Hopefully they'll have a solution
- doppler00, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Verizon sucks btw.... Crippled phones, limited bluetooth "functionality" for headsets that only verizon sells... can't upload your own ring tones etc...
- finkployd, on 10/12/2007, -10/+18That's the discount with a 2 year Cingular contract.
- thinkdifferent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8In most of the rest of the world, phones are sold unlocked as is. It's mostly in the U.S. that carriers put the artificial restriction on the devices. Since Apple sells worldwide, this makes far more sense then succumbing to the whims of a few U.S. carriers.
- scootinger, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13I also wish that I could buy whatever phone I wanted without being chained to my carrier. Unfortunately, I'm almost certain it's not going to happen with the way that things are now.
I'm not sure how easily Apple would be able to sell this as a mainstream product if they didn't sell it through a carrier. They wouldn't get a lot of advertising from the carriers. Also the phone may be too prohibitively expensive for people to buy without a major discount for a carrier contract. I foresee Apple (initially) selling the phone through just one carrier - I'll put my bet on Cingular.
Also if people are shelling out big bucks for a phone like this, they expect to have all their features like multimedia, messaging, Web, etc. With a non-branded GSM phone they would probably have a lot of trouble doing some of these things (setup for some things tied to carriers). It would be rather tough to setup, and I don't think a company like Apple would want to do that.
Also, it would not work on Verizon, Sprint, and all other non-GSM carriers - unless Apple makes a version for one or more of these carriers. - trakais, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8phones in europe are also `dirt cheap` when you buy them from a provider/carrier, but they become unlocked after 12 months of use. and they don't come with ugly branding
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8i woudl rather not have to carry an ipod and a cell phone
just a cell :P - abbott75, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13@Asianwaste - Clearly...
- boxninja, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Um, TopherT
GSM/3GSM holds 80% of the global mobile market, and the full list of GSM carriers in the US can be found at http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_us.shtml . - REBELinBLUE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8w1f1 please don't spam other articles with this crap. digg is for real news stories not fake ones
- kanecorp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7i read your article...you make me laugh
- cecret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I made the mistake of getting the Q. I switched to the pearl and haven't looked back.
- Panthro83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Here in the UK phones are indeed 'dirt cheap' if not free with contracts and most of the time are unlocked, however if they are locked it only takes a phone call to your provider to unlock them for free - well that's the case with Vodafone who've always unlocked all my free upgrade phones for me so they can go onto Ebay and make me a tidy profit.
Plus I'm not sure about other countries but again here in the UK, if you play your cards right the cost of using mobiles is decreasing, they're even giving us free ADSL these days with our phones... - nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5After living in Dubai for 5 years and travelling to Asia and Europe with a GSM phone it's so damn painful to be back in Canada. In most of the world you can go anywhere with your GSM 900/1800 MHz phone and just pop in a pre-paid chip from any small convenience store and use your phone, that's it. No fuss, no hassle, no signing up, _NO PHONE LOCKING TO ONE CARRIER_. You buy more credit if you need it. When the number is idle for 3-6 months or so they cancel it.
Then you come back to north america to find your dual-band phone doesn't work, you need a tri- or quad-band phone that works on 1900 and/or 850 MHz as well since north america doesn't use 900/1800 like the rest, grrr. Your provider will sell you a subsidised phone for 60% of the price, lock you into a contract, and lock your phone to their network. You can unlock your phone for pretty much the price of a nice phone ($250 or so is typical, I think).
It's such ***** over here, it makes me sick. We're so incredibly behind the rest of the world, even countries in the middle east that people are so quick to label as backwards and primitive are well ahead of us when it comes to cell phones. Something needs to be shaken up because you shouldn't have to order an unlocked phone from another continent. It's a "free" market where you can buy anything you want at a price, unless it's not as profitable for some big companies with big pockets for politicians to reach in and grab money from. I think it's safe to say that after you look at unlocking and early contract cancellation fees so many people would rather be able to buy the phone outright and pay more, but be able to sell it to ANYONE (regardless of their service provider) and reclaim some of their money when they sell the phone.
The best experience buying a phone in North America was one I bought on eBay, but picked up personally in Toronto. I don't think it was stolen but it could have been for all I know. It was unlocked, I owned it, it was just my phone that I could use with whoever I wanted (well, except we only have one GSM provider now that rogers owns fido). The phone companies should be striving to provide their customers with what they want. They could just offer both types of phones, locked & cheap or free & full priced.
Sorry for the long comment but something really needs to change over here, it's embarrassing. Oh and CDMA licks balls compared to the kwik stop. GSM rules. - Kale, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6FoxConn has been their manufacturer for a while. I just dissassembled a beige G3 Powermac, and it had a FoxConn Mainboard.
- doppler00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7This is a nice thought and all except for the fact that Apple DOESN'T OWN a cellphone network. Not one antenna! Of course they would have to pay existing carriers for use of their networks, as such they would probably have to charge a lot more for their services. It's better if they just partner with a cellphone company, but in such a way that the cellphone company is transparent. I mean, Apple probably doesn't want to deal with sending out phone bills and such.
- javip, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I still don't get it
Here if I want a phone, I can go on a 12 or 24 month plan and also not pay $500 for my phone but rather get it for free! or at most a one off $100 fee or whatever.
The cost of the phone is subsidized by the amount you pay each month on your plan, but even if you were to get on that same plan with your own pre-purchased phone the plan would cost the same.
The phone however is never locked and I am free to use it with another sim card or sell it if I want.
It's very strange seeing all this excitement over an unlocked phone.. and not to mention that you don't even get half of the best phones from Asia! - titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8That would be awesome, I was thinking of getting a Moto Q with Verizon but will wait for the iPhone.
- LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@TopherT
Umm...T-Mobile is GSM, AT&T Wireless (I believe they were bought by Cingular but there are still people using the service, aka my parents) is GSM, and Cingular is GSM. For the most part GSM is the most commonly used cell phone network in the world. Verizon and Sprint are the 2 big ones that don't, and Verizon letting you bring your own phone onto their network? HA! They even load their own OS on their phones, and cripple bluetooth to force you into buying their data plan. - JoeyDeacon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Are you an alien?
- micro506, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6What an awful article you've written.
- firepowered, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4In Australia,
All our mobile phones are sold unlocked and we get to choose who we want to be our network provider and can use multiple providers for each phone.
I'd hate the idea that my phone was locked to one network and usless if i wanted to join a new plan on a different network. - trakais, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4`think about the international market`? come on people, USA is the one behind. Europe gets all the phones before you even hear about them. Even motorola razr was available in europe while you were still looking at press pictures.
- tasinet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"One of the rather interesting marketing aspects I've read about is the" fact that companies have been selling 'unlocked' phones since the dawn of the mobile phone.
It's called Europe, it's a small country across that pond and phones have been sold unlocked there for a long, long time without it being considered a 'marketing aspect'. People buy the phones they like and they put a little card in which connects them to the networks they like. It's brilliant I tell you!
Also, the iPhone doesn't exist but that's beside my point. - thinkdifferent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There is a distinction between locked phones and being locked into a contract. Many carriers around the world will lock you into a contract in exchange for a reduced price on the hardware. However, what is more of a U.S. carrier issue is to lock the hardware itself to the carrier. There is also a habit of removing functionality (cough* Verizon cough*) so that they can charge you to do the same thing over their network.
- thinkdifferent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There is more to the mobile market than just the U.S.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6actually it's pretty easy, you just have to go to one of those mom and pop shops. You can also order unlocked phone online, but you will be paying full retail price for them..which is usually pretty expensive. I expect the iPhone to be no different pricewise.
- sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The point is that it costs almost double to buy unlocked. Most people dont want to shell out 500 bucks for a decent phone. With a plan it would be more like 200.
- 4NDr01D, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I hope Apple have a great MVNO service planned,
that syncs to my mac, calender, address book, and itunes.
Bilk in Finland plans to offer a FREE service, with ads
Google has also hinted at a similar arrangement
why are txt messages 10c when an email is free ?
why are minutes still outrageous when they aren't building any new towers?
WiFi Sykpe anyone?
The dinosaur mobile telco's need a kick in the ass, and deserve to suffer for not innovating.
South Korea is currently test 4G networks with 1GB/Second connectivity!
the wool is over our eyes here in the USA, stop deluding yourselves. - beatmix01, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6and of course, there will not be a cdma version of this phone ever. stupid CDMA. maybe ill just have to buy a prepaid sim to use it.
- monkeyrun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3All higher end phones are sold separately anyway...
- corduroy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6It's a great idea that they can successfully push.
They aren't the first though, Sony-Ericsson phones are great and for the most part, they sell their phones off their website and not through carriers. At least here in the USA, I purchased my SE phone in Europe a year and a half ago. The difference here is that Apple has a very strong presence. They have countless retails stores, an effective advertising agency, and a website where ordering is easy.
SE phones have very good mp3 capabilities (in contrast to Sony's own products) and generally are terrific. Apple's phones could provide a very good competitor to the SE walkman phones. I'm holding off on purchasing a K790a to see what Apple will offer. - MattGrover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Hey, wait a minute... don't different people want different things?!?
- alloneword, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Doesn't shock me in the least. USA is one of the few places where phones are usually locked to a network. All phones sold here (AU) are unlocked (unless they are pre-paid).
I can't see why Apple would want to lock there product to particular network, they would rather maximise their target audience.
The only question remains what standard the phone will use. GSM, or a 3G service.
Unlike USA, mobile operators in other countries operate (although they are phasing out CDMAone) both GSM and CDMA networks. - ramreezy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i hear that. 2 of the biggest telcos in Canada are CDMA and the phones are junk.
- WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I went through the merger as an ATT customer, and there was no interruption to my service, or push to renew...
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