Ewan’s meeting with 3’s handset Head Honcho – Handset Locking

Ewan met Fergal Walker today, 3 UK’s Director of Handsets. Setting aside how much I want his job for a moment, I would really like a shot at a few follow-up questions on those the SMSTextNews readership had contributed (myself included)… this being the first.

I haven’t had the oppurtunity to follow-up with Ewan on this is all me and based solely on the write-up.

Ewan: Why do they forbid the use of non-3 handsets in their terms & conditions? With he more technical and demanding crowd they’re attracting with X-Series, how about allowing them, but unsupported (or similar)?

Fergal: We, unlike some operators, don’t make money from selling our handsets. We pass on the handset cost to the customer through their contract. If we open up our handsets, we’d be basically giving away pieces of kit — so for this reason our handsets are locked to the sim card.

Fergal answered the wrong question here. He answered “Why do you SIM-lock your phones?” However, the answer’s still nonsensical because a 3 handset (whatever profit margin is or isn’t being made) can only be obtained free or discounted if purchased with a contract. The 12 or 18 monthly contract payments the customer commits to still have to be paid even if the SIM is thrown away and the handset used elsewhere. That’s why PAYG phones cost more…

So why do 3 lock them?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Three, handsets, smstextnews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Ewan’s meeting with 3’s handset Head Honcho – Handset Locking”

  1. Ewan’s meeting with 3’s handset Head Honcho - Non-3 Handsets « 3 X-Series Says:
    16th August 2007 at 11:11 pm

    [...] with 3’s handset Head Honcho – Non-3 Handsets A second follow-up following on from the hand-set locking post from Ewan’s meeting with the man from 3.  Another quote:  Fergal: …you’re perfectly [...]

  2. Ewan’s meeting with 3’s handset Head Honcho - Firmware Upgrades « 3 X-Series Says:
    16th August 2007 at 11:24 pm

    [...] with 3’s handset Head Honcho – Firmware Upgrades A third follow-up following on from the hand-set locking post from Ewan’s meeting with the man from 3.  Another quote: Ewan:  For Nokia handsets, why isn’t [...]

  3. Follow-up: Ewan’s meeting with 3’s handset Head Honcho - Uninformed Speculation « 3 X-Series Says:
    16th August 2007 at 11:49 pm

    [...] 3’s handset Head Honcho – Uninformed Speculation A fourth and final follow-up from the hand-set locking post from Ewan’s meeting with the man from 3, but this time with a bunch of wild speculation from me. [...]

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