German iPhone To Come With Rebate

by Darren

In a move designed to compete with AT&T, German mobile operator will offer a large rebate on the iPhone. This should open up the German market quickly for iPhones.

Debitel — which resells airtime it buys from T-Mobile and rivals Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research), O2 (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and E-Plus (KPN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) in Germany — said on Tuesday it would pay the difference in price between an unlocked iPhone and one locked to T-Mobile.

T-Mobile has an exclusive deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in Germany, but was ordered by a court last week to offer customers an option to buy an unlocked iPhone.

It agreed to do so — at a price of 999 euros, compared with 399 euros for an iPhone locked into a T-Mobile contract.

The move is expected to rapidly increase sales for Debiel when the unlocked phones go on sale.