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Reader comment on:
The iPhone and the Technology Thieves

Submitted by Adam, Aug 27, 2007 19:47

Hi all

I've been watching the developments with the iPhone with interest. I'm in Australia and having been tortured by WM 5 for some time now I am dying to get my hands on a smartphone that actually works.

I've always been a purchaser of telephone hardware and then put my existing sim into the phones. I don't object to paying the circa $1,000 price for a handset and then being free to chose whatever network and contract I want.

I do object to Apple tying the iPhone to an AT&T contract, I'm happy to pay them whatever they are asking for the gadget but I'd then like to be free to choose my own carrier, and switch carriers when I want to.

In australia we have some consumer protection legislation called "Third Line Forcing". I'm no lawyer but my basic understanding is that it is illegal to offer a product contingent on the method of paying for that product. ie. "You can buy this product at this price but only if you finance it in a particular way (usually through the seller)". I can't see the difference between this and what Apple have done with the iPhone.

To be clear, there are plenty of phones available here on contracts.....and plenty of people buy them that way (usually the handset is "free" so it looks attractive)....but you don't have to buy them that way, you can pay cash for the phone and then stick any sim into it.

For my money this is a better way of doing things. I hope that Apple run foul of the law in Australia and are forced to offer the phone "unlocked"........if they ever get the damn thing down here!

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment By Date

You would think a former FCC Commissioner would be familiar with the ruling of the Librarian of Congress nine months... [MORE]

Jason

Sep 11, 2007 11:20

A simple question, If I buy the iPhone and then the software to open it up. I then pay another... [MORE]

Dan

Aug 28, 2007 05:45

I have to say that i totally disagree, and in my case I can't have an IPhone, even though I'd... [MORE]

Massiel

Sep 3, 2007 13:19

For Apple it's important to prove to the world of telcom and phone makers that there is a new paradigm... [MORE]

ken

Aug 27, 2007 21:34

Hi all I've been watching the developments with the iPhone with interest. I'm in Australia and having been tortured by WM...

Adam

Aug 27, 2007 19:47

Mr. Furchtgott-Roth, I respectfully disagree with your supposition that use of the iPhone on other networks represents a theft of intellectual... [MORE]

Steven Sokol

Aug 27, 2007 17:11

I take exception to the part: "Instead, it chose an exclusive contract with AT&T, self-evidently because it was in Apple's... [MORE]

brett

Aug 27, 2007 14:52

Mr. Furchtgott-Roth's argument falls down on several fronts. 1. The iPhone is not available exclusively through AT&T. Apple sells iPhones in... [MORE]

Daniel Knight

Aug 27, 2007 13:06

Nobody is talking about stealing Apple's intellectual property -- nobody is copying the iPhone and selling it as their own,... [MORE]

Ted T.

Aug 27, 2007 11:41

Apple and AT&T may have entered into a contract for exclusive SALES of the iPhone, but they don't have a... [MORE]

Mike Babulic

Aug 27, 2007 11:05

Even in the wireless world, exclusives regularly exist, albeit typically on technology boundaries. However, many are also carrier exclusives, at... [MORE]

Kirk

Aug 27, 2007 09:21

Jobs and Wozniak started their careers as ... phone hackers!It's only appropriate that someone has hacked Jobs' new phone, especially... [MORE]

Spam Loather

Aug 27, 2007 06:27

Amid all the dross written about the iPhone, there's the occasional piece that stands out for its intelligence and even-handedness.... [MORE]

Trevor

Aug 27, 2007 05:58

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