T-Mobile iPhone Exclusivity In The Balance

Mobile phone operator T-Mobile has today announced it is to open up sales of the Apple iPhone to customers without forcing a T-Mobile contract, in a move driven by a court injuction preventing the satisfaction of the company’s exclusivity arrangement with manufacturers Apple.

Following a petition raised by competing operator Vodafone to challenge the validity of the arrangement between T-Mobile and Apple, the company has been forced to open up sales of the iPhone to customers without having to insist on a contract, in order to open up competitiveness within the market.

T-Mobile has today announced that they will be retailing iPhones a £719, almost three times the price of the same handset on a 24-month T-Mobile contract in a move designed to discourage off-the-bat sales which could end up with other networks. Additionally the sim-lock initiated by those that attempted to unblock the iPhone network instructions is now to be reversed, including for existing customers.

The move on the whole will allow customers to choose which mobile network is to compliment their iPhone, dealing a crucial blow to the incredibly valued exclusivity arrangement agreed between the operator and iPhone manufacturer Apple.

The judgement could be seen as a potential blow to similar Apple operator arrangements with o2 and AT&T in the UK and US respectively, and it is thought that a challenge in another jurisdiction may be brought imminently to vferify the validity of the exclusivity arrangements in place.

However T-Mobile have today fuelled speculation of an appeal, suggesting they would comply in the interim untill the litigation was ‘resolved’. It is thought that the process of uncompetitively pricing the handset is testament to the T-Mobile sentiment after securing the lucrative exclusivity deal earlier in the year.

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