Google’s Android team has announced that they will begin selling the unlocked Android Dev Phone 1 for $399 USD. The mobile phone will be the first Android-based phone to be both SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked and available to the public.
Google created the Linux-based OS to compete against other mobile operating systems such as Microsoft Windows Mobile, Nokia Symbian, Apple’s iPhone and RIM.
The move should prompt extra sales to consumers who do not want to buy the T-Mobile-locked G1.
The unit will be available in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary and will work with any GSM carrier.
Result for: gsm carrier
Apple has begun selling unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong today, marking one of the few times the company has allowed the phone to sell in such a fashion. An unlocked phone can be used on any GSM carrier and is not tied down to any specific carrier.
Until now in Hong Kong, only users of Hutchison Telecom could use the iPhone but now the phone will be available to anyone using a GSM carrier.
The unlocked iPhone will sell for a high premium however, $695 USD for the 8GB model and $795 USD for the larger capacity 16GB model.
In the US, where the phone sells the best, AT&T sells the phone with 2 year contract for $199 and $299 USD but will eventually sell the phone unlocked for $599 USD.
