6 ms·

US store only?

• DrJokepu 15y ago
  It's been available in the UK store since day one and that's probably true for most other countries. The US was exceptional in the sense that you couldn't directly buy an unlocked iPhone from Apple. UK Store: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iph...
  • officemonkey 15y ago
    No doubt it was part of their deal with AT&T. U.S. telcoms (especially AT&T) are big bullies. Apple needed to play ball when they were first getting started. Now of course, they don't need AT&T, so they're dropping all the restrictions as soon as they're legally able to.
    • rmc 15y ago
      No doubt it was part of their deal with AT&T Possibly. Another factor is that in some countries mobile phone networks are legally required to unlock phones after a certain date.
      • officemonkey 15y ago
        That doesn't explain why in the UK and France you were able to buy an unlocked phone pretty much from the get-go.
  • halostatue 15y ago
    Canada has has an unlocked version since the iPhone 4 release and the coverage on four carriers. If I hadn't had a $0 upgrade to the 4, I would have bought unlocked just for travelling.