For many years it was almost impossible to buy a cell phone outright. The “Service Providers” (formerly called Cell Phone Providers) wanted to control their customers by locking them into the infamous 2 year contract. When you signed a contract with them they gave you a cell phone for free or almost free. They refunded her free phone money hidden in the fee they charged her every month.
Recently this has been changing. Service providers have separated the phone and its price from the service. Now you can see every month what you are paying for the phone. After two years, your phone will be paid off and that charge will be removed from your bill. In reality, most people will upgrade their cell phones every 2-3 years. So it sounds like you’ll always have that cell phone charge on your bill. Service providers will lure you in with some sort of special deal to bind you to another contract.
The term “Unlocked Cell Phone” has been in the news recently thanks to Apple®, more on that later. An unlocked phone is one that is not tied to any cellular service provider. In the examples I gave above, your cell phone is locked to that particular carrier. Even after you have paid for your phone, it is very difficult to get that carrier to unlock your phone. Let’s face it with a locked phone that’s tied to them.
Apple® really started the smartphone when it came out with the first iPhone®; the cell phone industry changed forever. Since that first iPhone® in 2007, each year they came out with more advanced phones packed with advanced features. Other manufacturers got in on the game when Google® offered its Android operating system for free to any mobile phone maker who wanted it. Now, people all over the world have or will soon have a smartphone.
Apple® recently changed the cell phone industry again by making it possible to buy your phone directly from Apple® and allowing you to pay for it monthly under a 2-year contract for a reasonable price. The industry changing event is that these phones are unlocked. This means you can buy from your provider and switch every year if you want by simply changing the SIM card. To top it off, you can get a new phone every year.
Other manufacturers and retailers will follow and before long we will be buying our cell phones like you buy a camera or a television.