The unlocked iPhone is here, and as you would imagine, it's expensive, damn expensive. Apple has listed the GSM iPhone 4 on its website with prices set at $649 for a 32GB and $749 for a and 16GB handset. That's £456 and £396 to us Brits. People have wanted unlocked iPhone's for a while now, and it's a smart move for Apple to start selling them. But is the price tag equally smart or will Apple struggle to find people willing to fork out near enough half a grand for a phone? You could get an iPad 2 for the same price, with change. I think I'd rather go for a budget Android like the San Francisco or Pulse mini and an iPad.
The real market for the unlocked iPhone is the traveller (the rich traveller.) An unlocked iPhone comes with the ability to swap a U.S. SIM card for a European one.
That aside, your liberated new iPhone won't be anywhere near as free as you'd like to think it is. With only the GSM model is available. The phone is technically restricted to the AT&T network in the United States. T-Mobile is the only other GSM compatible network, but… it's not iPhone compatible.
And let's point out the obvious here every high-street has one of them dodgy unlock shops. So does the internet http://www.iphoneunlockuk.com/ for example. Now we at Gaj-it aren't telling you to buy an iPhone and an unlock code of the internet, but you easily could… Making the unlocked iPhone, a bit of a con.