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This little snippet was buried in a story about how Apple is making it more difficult to unlock an iPhone.

One major incentive for unlocking remains, especially for Europeans. Those who travel to other countries with unlocked phones can use local prepaid service plans rather than paying exorbitant international roaming fees to their home carriers.

Uniquephones.com helps unlock 10,000 British cell phones of all kinds every day, McLaughlin said, with travelers being a core customer group.

It annoys AT&T so much that they are even looking to penalize customers even beyond the early termination fee.

AT&T charges customers who break a two-year contract within the first month a $175 early termination fee plus the $36 activation fee. That would bring the cost of the new iPhone to $411 for an unlocker, just slightly more than the old model’s $399 price.

That math may mean it is still attractive to unlock iPhones for use on other networks and that AT&T will lose money on unlockers. Analysts estimate AT&T plans to subsidize the phones by more than $200 each.

But Ralph de la Vega, head of AT&T Mobility, said Monday that it and Apple are working on “penalties” for users who buy phones and don’t activate them within 30 days. AT&T could, for instance, bar buyers who repeatedly buy iPhones and break the contracts from buying more.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/26/2008/6/10/355870.html?title=New%20iPhone’s%20business%20model%20is%20tough%20on%20unlockers

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