No Contracts For German iPhone Buyers November 23, 2007

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It looks like the Germans are the first to be allowed to buy iPhones without those expensive contracts.

T-Mobile, Apple’s chosen operator in Germany, has been forced by the European courts to allow customers to buy the iPhone without a T-Mobile contract, after a Vodafone legal action. Even better, anyone who already bought one there can have their SIMs unlocked for free so that they too can hop to another network, if they so choose.

Great news – yes – but there is a snag. Up until now, German shoppers had to pay a total of around £1,130 for the iPhone and a 24-month T-Mobile contract. The iPhone makes up just £286 of that total.

So, you’d expect that now the German punter could get the iPhone for £286. Wrong. T-Mobile will sell you one without a contract but the privilege will cost you £716. Ouch, ouch, ouch.-Martin Lynch

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