Apple on Tuesday began sellingan unsecured version of the GSM iPhone quarto U.S. customers . Until now , Apple ’s only sold carrier - locked iPhones here , with separate AT&T and Verizon editions of the French telephone — though unlatched iPhones have long been usable to customer in Canada and Europe .
In hypothesis , this should allow users to buy and use the iPhone on T - Mobile ’s GSM - based net , though since the letter carrier use a different 3 gm frequence , you ’ll only get EDGE speeds for information ; voice feature , leave out mailman - supported features like Visual Voicemail , should work fine . But outside traveler may be the real winners here : They can now take one iPhone with them and kill in a Modern micro - SIM posting overseas .
Expect some prickle shock . The unlatched iPhone 4 costs $ 649 for the 16 GB variation , and $ 749 for 32 G . That ’s because when you buy the iPhone 4 from a carrier , it make out with a two - year contract requirement that ’s used to subsidize your upfront cost . Both black and white models of the unlocked iPhone 4 are uncommitted .
If you buy the unsecured iPhone 4 , Apple says that you ’re responsible for for procuring your own micro - SIM and cellular contract bridge with a compatible provider . Apple admonish that iPad micro - SIMs willnotwork with an iPhone 4 .
While the unlocked iPhone will in all probability only appropriate a small portion of the market , it ’s yet another box Apple can check with its detractors . This travel along the summation of the Verizon iPhone earlier this year , which let the company sell to a huge block of previously unavailable customer . No doubt Apple would care to be able to sell an iPhone to anybody and everybody , regardless of their carrier situation , so perhaps additional carrier wave deals are in the works .
