Unlocked cellphones increasing in official retail channels
Posted Jan 24th 2007 5:20PM by Brian White
Filed under: Cellular, Business
Unlocked GSM phones have always been available on eBay and other "gray market" sources for American consumers wanting free and uncrippled handsets that the mobile carriers are not willing to provide to them.
Now, these unlocked handsets are showing up in retail stores and mainstream website channels alongside carrier-branded phones, which are typically locked to a single carrier.
Are manufacturers tired of being
dictated by carriers on how to sell handsets? They should be, since many mobile carriers do not have consumer's best interests in mind with the closed "ecosystem" they have -- but they do have profits in mind.
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