Just yesterday we wrote about a rumor floating around the internet that this Wednesday Apple would start selling the iPhone 4 unlocked in the USA. Looks like those rumors were wrong since we didn’t have to wait until Wednesday, it’s official as of today. That’s right, nearly 4 years after the first iPhone went on sale (June 29, 2007) tied down to AT&T, you can now buy one free from any restrictions as to which operator you can use. What’s it going to cost you? Hope you’re sitting down, it’s $650 for the 16 GB model and $750 for the 32 GB variant. Both colors are available. Contrast this to the 600 EUR ($865) you have to pay for the 16 GB iPhone 4 in Finland, and you’ll appreciate living in FreedomLand. Now of course you’re going to have to purchase your own service to use this thing, and sadly the only 3G bands supported with the current iPhone are those of AT&T. Could this move to sell an unlocked device be the sign of things to come for the next iPhone, which is rumored to not only support both AT&T and T-Mobile 3G bands, but is also capable of hopping onto CDMA networks? We’ll have to wait and see.
If you’re comfortable with surfing the internet using only an EDGE connection, then by all means pick this puppy up along with a SIM card from Simple Mobile. If you’ve never heard of them, it’s because they don’t really promote themselves. Simple Mobile is what’s called a mobile virtual network operator, MVNO for short, that uses T-Mobile’s network. For $60 per month they offer an unlimited everything plan, but again, we can’t stress this enough, you’re going to be on EDGE, aka have really slow access to the internet. If that’s fine with you, and for most folks it is, then go ahead, enjoy an unlocked iPhone, and flip AT&T the bird.
[Via: Slash Gear]