iPhone
So according to The Age, some legal academics in Queensland have studied Apple’s business model for the iPhone and believe that its policy of locking the phone to just one network (as it has done in the US with AT&T) would be illegal in Australia. Of course, until its tested in court it remains just an opinion, but we can hope for the sake of consumer choice that Apple will consider this carefully before trying to lock the iPhone to one Australian network.
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Comments
Especially if that network is Helstra!
Although realistically if the handset is only going to use the Edge network then it is only Telstra that can use it as 3Mobile, Optus and Vodafone use a proper 3G UTMS network.
If Apple really wanted to make a go of the iPhone in Australia they should upgrade it to a full 3G HSDPA handset and open it up to all Australian networks. If they did that they would own the market!
Yes, but what’s the difference, legally, between the iPhone commercialisation model and locking specific models of any brand of phone to specific networks… at least for 12/24 months etc?
Smellstra’s NextG is another issue where they have an exclusive network technology… but they still have Telstra-rebadged models that would work GSM as well as NextG – so what’s the difference?