Another twist in the German iPhone tale
Rating: ouch
By Annie Turner
Last week a court in Hamburg decided that customers should have the option of buying an unlocked version of the iPhone that could be used on any German network, without being tied to a contract. T-Mobile and Apple promptly priced the unlocked iPhone at EUR 999 to put customers off doing buying it: an iPhone locked to the T-Mobile network costs EUR 399.
Now the German MVNO Debitel says it will offer a EUR 600 (USD 891) rebate to customers who buy an iPhone from T-Mobile Deutschland, but agree to use Debitel’s service. In effect, Debitel plans to stump up the difference in price between an unlocked iPhone and an iPhone subsidised by the T-Mobile if you sign up for its services. Debitel said it would begin offering iPhone contracts starting at EUR40 per month for 200 minutes, which is cheaper than T-Mobile’s entry-level package of EUR 49 for 100 minutes.
Another shuddering blow to T-Mobile’s supposed advantage from being Apple’s exclusive partner and driving a coach and horses through Apple’s business model, yet again.
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