[governance] the Apple iPhone rort

[Tapani Tarvainen]

On Tue, Jul 10, 2007 at 08:56:42PM -0700, David Goldstein (goldstein_david at yahoo.com.au) wrote:

> To have an iPhone one must agree to a contract with AT&T

> the “practice of tying users to one provider is unique to the
> wireless world. Cable TV providers can't tell you what kind of TV to
> buy. And regular phone service will work on any phone you can find at
> your favorite electronics store. In the latter case, that's because
> there is a longstanding set of laws that guarantee consumer choice.”
 
> In the USA, at least, this is “called the ‘Carterfone’ rules, these
> laws make it so you can use any device you want - phone, headset,
> fax machine or dial-up modem - on your telephone network, so long as
> it doesn't harm the network.”

In Finland it's even stronger: you can't even give discount of
a phone price with an operator agreement. 
Unfortunately, they just last year made an exception for 3G phones 
for some obscure reasons (something about boosting business...),
so with those we also now have those stupid "almost free phone with 
36-month operator agreement" -type offers, and chances are it'll spread. :-(

-- 
Tapani Tarvainen
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