This is misleading. Carriers most often subsidize handset costs. So with that context, they are perfectly justified in locking the phone to their network.
The iPhone would cost $200 more if it was not carrier-subsidized. On Dec 5, 2007 2:15 AM, Manny <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A Defeat for Openness > December 4th, 2007 by Maddog > > The cause for opening up consumer choice in telecommunications took a hit > today when a German court ruled that Deutsche Telekom can lock iPhone > users to its network. This was reported by Bloomberg in the story > "Deutsche Telekom Wins Ruling in IPhone Sales Dispute (Update3)": > > Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's largest > telephone company, can block buyers of Apple Inc.'s iPhone > from using the handset on competitors' networks, a German > court ruled, overturning an injunction won by Vodafone > Group Plc. > > The Regional Court of Hamburg said in a statement today it > lifted an injunction obtained by Vodafone that stopped > Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit from selling the device > only with exclusive contracts or software that restricted > use on competitors' wireless systems. > > Unfortunately, this is only one episode in a series of developments that > threaten the freedom of choice of wireless users. Wireless access, for > example, is quite often controlled by carriers who do not want users to > have choices about who to rely on for that access. _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
