http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-...MU09032009STR1

It looks like Apple's move to carrier agnosticy could blow the whole market open. Which means that having everyone offer unlocked phones isn't far off. Which means we may soon see our own version of Car Phone Warehouse. Or at the very least, better plans.

If one is aiming to open up the carrier cartels in the US, this is the way to do it. You've to play the system til you're big enough to 'matter', before trying to force your own ways to the market.

Then again, if Apple is doing this it's purely for capitalistic reasons because they have more to gain from the market that way. None of this free market ideology bs

If Apple is smart then they will release on as many platforms as possible. I don't know if they're also considering multiple versions of iPhone besides just the flash memory size. But either way, as I pointed out. For Apple, it's good to as many out as they can for now. Because if they don't change their strategy, a competitor like Android that can be installed on a variety of hardware on a variety of telcos is eventually going outnumber them once it picks up steam. And I'm sure Apple must've learned its lesson from the computer revolution.

It would be good for me because it would cause the carriers to compete more, and might cause the phone makers to work harder as well ("we don't have to compete with the iPhone, if we're targeting non-AT&T customers").

But, without a keyboard version of the iPhone, and an open App Store ... not interested in the iPhone itself, even on other carriers.

No way, no how, no Apple. No matter what carriers get it or how cheap it becomes, I have zero interest in having an iPhone. ZERO! I'm gettin real tired of glass slabs with goofy-lookin' chrome edges.

I just put up significant money for a N900 to have something more unusual and attractive, more capable and customizable, and especially more under MY control, including the music and videos I load in it.

Cant see Apple selling unlocked phones through carriers but they may sell the device to all carriers who show an interest and the device will be locked to that specific carrier and then you can unlock it at the end of contract.

Well, someone once said that Apple could sell their phone unlocked off their site, and preconfigured for a given carrier, and they'd sell like gangbusters. The questions is if they'd do that. And if they did, what other phone makers would do the same? They really should do that because it would put pressure on the entire industry to change in a positive way.

Well Nokia kind of does that, you buy the phone, put your sim in and it just works because all the major APN's are in the firmware.

Yeah, good point. The only thing you'd need then is a phone that would support the particular carrier you wanted to use it on.

look at apples history, no multiples of any computer model.

there will only be one iphone...