Unlocked iPhones to Run Amok?
This morning I had a bad attack of the shakes. My mouth felt dry, my skin had turned an unattractive shade of yellow, and I had an unsavoury series of hallucinations. I hadn’t quit heroin, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Then it hit me – I hadn’t written about the iPhone in ages!
A few days ago, it was announced that Italy will be getting a non-exclusive 3G iPhone, which means that there won’t be any revenue-sharing with a network. The iPhone hasn’t been doing as well in Europe as was hoped, but would Apple change their business plan so drastically to appeal to the market? La Repubblica claim that Jobs is willing to trade in the revenue sharing for a higher purchase price. The article argues that the mobile market is changing, and that revenue will come from three areas: infrastructure revenue for voice and internet access will be paid to the telecos, premium services and content will be paid to the content providers, and social networking and search functions will be ad-supported.
Now it’s been reported that Belgium will be following suit. Astel.be (translated link – check out the poetry of the first sentence) reckon that a 3G unlocked iPhone will appear in May/June and will work on any carrier. It’s unlikely that Apple has given up on revenue-sharing, but they do need to loosen Nokia and Sony Ericsson’s vice-like grip on the European market.
Source: MacRumours
