Wednesday November 21, 07:20 PM
Deutsche Telekom to sell Apple iPhone without subscription
FRANKFURT (AFP) - German telecommunications operator Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: 555750 - news) said Wednesday that as a result of a court ruling it would sell Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL - news) 's iPhone without forcing customers to sign up to the operator's mobile telephone service.
It was the first time that exclusive distribution conditions of the iPhone through a mobile operator have led to a court decision.
Deutsche Telekom will charge 999 euros (1,480 dollars) for the hot multimedia item, instead of the 399 euros paid when buyers take a subscription to Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit, a statement by the operator said.
Sal Oppenheim analyst Nicolas von Stackelberg told AFP: "The price has to be high, in the end it's a luxury product meant to be shown off."
And customers would still have to purchase the iPhone at Deutsche Telekom outlets, he noted.
A Deutsche Telekom spokesman said: "T-Mobile will challenge the decision," which meant the court in northern Hamburg, which issued a temporary injunction on Tuesday would be asked for a final ruling on whether the distribution deal is valid or not.
Meanwhile, the German telecoms operator will offer to unblock iPHones that were bought with a subscription since Tuesday, it said, adding that the new conditions would apply "until the end of the judicial procedure."
The Hamburg court granted a temporary injunction to British telecom (LSE: BT-A.L - news) operator Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) , which had challenged an exclusive distribution agreement between Apple and T-Mobile.
Apple has also signed exclusive distribution contracts in the United States with AT&T (NYSE: T - news) , and in Britain with O2.
In France, telecoms operator Orange is to sell iPhones starting November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) 29, but French legislation already requires Orange to sell the phone with or without a mobile subscription.
Programmes have circulated on the Internet that allow iPhones to be used with various telecoms operators, but Apple has threatened to fight back with updated software.
Vodafone's request for a court ruling, von Stackelberg said, "shows that it really needs it (the iPHone), after first criticizing it."
German press reports have said that T-Mobile agreed to pay Apple up to 30 percent of the operator's iPhone sales in order to seal the German distribution deal.
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