Apple Stores making room for New iPhone(s). iPhone 3G now available without contract from retail Stores.

By Aaron Besson at 26 March, 2009, 11:26 pm

: Image by mrbill via Flickr

Apple retail stores are now selling the iPhone 3G wihtout a contract to one and all. This comes after AT&T announced that they will be selling one iPhone 3G without a contract (one per existing customer) that can be activated at home (or end up being resold and unlocked somewhere around the world).

Well Apple has just opened the flood gates as it is now selling the iPhone 3G from it’s retail stores with no limit on the amount that a customer can buy (according to AppleInsider). I am sure this means that allot of iPhone 3G are going to be on the market, but here is the catch. The phones are contract free, NOT unlocked, and are being sold at a retail premium of $599 for the 8GB version and $699 for the 16GB models. That’s as much or more than they sell for on the eblackmarket unlocked.

No sign on Apples website of the option the purchase the iPhone 3G without a contract, but I am sure this will be updated soon.

Unfortunately most of the iPhone 3G’s you would buy now form an Apple Store will be running firmware 2.2.1 and have the new modem/baseband version 02.30.03 wich can not be unlocked at the moment. There are some Sim Hacks that may work, but I have not tested them and have had bad luck with lots of them in the past. A new version of Yellowsn0wmay be available when 3.0 comes out, but only the Dev Team will be able to answer that. (or Zibri maybe?? ok I am just kidding aorund). One good thing, this certianly means that Apple is selling out it’s existing stock of iPhone 3G’s to make way for a new iPhone model(s).

The summer is shaping up to be a good one if you are a fan of anything Apple. Rumors are plentyful and almost all of Apples product lines will be updated (if they have not been already), new products may be revealed and a whole new iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS Leopard are on the way in June. All these rumors and buzz must have brought back some much needed investor confidence becase [AAPL] Apple Stock is up again.