Customers—some from as far away as Canada—camped through the night outside the store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. No, it wasn’t the first shipment of Sony’s PlayStation 3 or Nintendo’s Wii gaming console they awaited—but cell phones. And not just any cell phones. These ones, unveiled at the summer opening of the flagship store owned by mobile-phone giant Nokia, boasted features such as multimegapixel cameras and the ability to surf the Internet over wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, connections. Best of all: They were among the first in the U.S. that could be used on any one of several wireless networks.
That’s a radical idea in a country where switching among cell-phone providers invariably means changing phones. Say you want to move from Cingular, owned by AT&T (T) and BellSouth (BLS), to Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) T-Mobile, your Cingular device won’t work on T-Mobile’s network. Not so with one of these "unlocked" phones from Nokia. And as the phones gain in popularity, switching may increase, benefiting handset makers and forcing providers to cut prices to foster loyalty.
Unlocked devices have long been a hit in Europe and Asia, where people often switch carriers when traveling from country to country. In fact, most cell phones sold in those regions are unlocked, says Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research. But until Nokia’s move, few major cell-phone makers had dared peddle their entire line of unlocked phones in North America, where carriers hold tight reins on subscribers and their phones.
Source: Business Week
I wrote a highly similar piece called "The American Cellular Telecommunications Industry Needs A Swift Kick In The Ass" about 3 days ago. I agree with everything the author said, unlocked phone are simply what this country needs and handset makers need to start educating consumers about the benefits.
Nokia, dear Nokia, open up a flagship store in Dallas … please?