| Meh Cellphones will remain provider-locked for good in the US. Just look at how many people here defending provider-locking. People in the US have been brainwashed by the carriers that they have to shell out full price for unlocked phones. Ironically, carriers are selling no-contract phones at full price, yet those are still provider-locked. Even funnier, pay-as-you-go phones in the US, which is supposed to be no-contract-you-pay-for-the-phone deal, are all provider-locked.
Unlocked and subsidy are unrelated. The carriers want you to think that they are, but they are not. Let's take a look at Singapore. Over there, all contract and subsidized phones, including high end smart-phones, and even *gasp*, the iPhone, are sold unlocked out of the box. Carriers can still subsidize phone. Customers that are getting subsidized phones are already tied with a contract. The phone should not have anything to do with it. I mean think about it, in the US, even if you already finish your contract where the phone is technically yours, it is still provider locked and useless to be used on other carriers. How's that even logical?
But, like I said, seeing how many people defending provider-locking, and how many people in the US love being screwed by the carriers, nothing will change. Verizon is already wanting to push their own app store on their phones. AT&T is pre-loading their phones with their own locked-down firmware, which actually reduce performance of the phones. |
