iPhone Life magazine

Apple Starts Selling Unlocked iPhone 4s

Alex Cequea 6.14.11

Black and White iPhoneMacRumors and 9to5 Mac have both confirmed that Apple will start selling unlocked versions of the iPhone 4 starting on Wednesday, June 15th. Although these rumors surfaced over the weekend, most tech blogs were skeptical since Apple has always frowned upon unlocking (AKA "jail-breaking") their devices to be used with any carrier. The unlocked versions only apply to the GSM versions (the ones compatible with AT&T). Verizon versions of the iPhone (CDMA versions) will still be incompatible with other carriers. This move is poised to benefit T-Mobile, who uses GSM phones, as new users can now sign up with them without having to jail-break the iPhone. If the T-Mobile-AT&T merger goes through, however, it'll end up making little difference to the end-user.

Unlocked versions of the iPhone 4 (in both black and white color) will retail for $649 for the 16GB, and $749 for the 32GB version. 

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Alex Cequea
http://www.about.me/alexcequea
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Alex Cequea is the Editor in Chief of iPhone Life magazine, and a managing partner at Mango Life Media (publisher of iPhone Life magazine). He holds an MBA in Sustainable Business, and he writes and speaks about mobile technology, business, and sustainability. He enjoys tennis, fascinating stories, public speaking, and climbing mango trees. He's presented to audiences large and small, and in 2011 he placed in the top 200 speakers worldwide (out of 25,000) in Toastmasters International Inspirational Speech Contest. He also maintains a blog about public speaking and communication skills. He lives in Boulder, CO with his wife.

Old Comments

Correct, got one last week

Submitted by AnonymousGD on 6/22/11 9:25am

 

My national carrier sticks a knife on our backs with fees. I payed a bit more for the unlocked phone, but i do travel, so now i can insert a local chip when im abroad.

Does work wonderfully. thanks Apple

   

Apple Starts Selling Unlocked iPhone 4s

Submitted by Uncle Tone on 6/22/11 2:45pm

News if you believe all readers are in the U.S.  Sim free and contract free iPhone 4s have been available from Apple without any frowning in many other countries for a year or so. Congratulations to the U.S. for catching up!

 

(U.K.  Unlocked and sim-freedom since June 2010)your

A correction in your terminology.

Submitted by Dungeondan on 6/23/11 12:27pm

Glad to hear that "unlocked" iphones are being offered but I would like to point out that "unlocking" and "jailbreaking" are in fact two seperate things. "Jailbreaking" opens the iPhone up to the use of 3rd party apps (apps not obtained through iTunes) and allows uses of the phones features in ways other than what Apple intended. As your article says "unlocking" your iPhone lets you use it on any GSM network.

Thanks for the clarification!

Submitted by Alex Cequea on 6/23/11 3:36pm

Thanks for the clarification! I'm sure most people, like me, aren't aware of the difference. So you can have an unlocked phone that won't run third-party apps (not obtained through Apple), that makes sense.