A contract without a contract?
Various of our mobile networks/operators are taking pre-orders for iPhone 4s before issuing any details of their tariffs. How is that going to work?
How can 2 parties legally agree to a binding contract when one party is saying it's going to make up the terms it'll agree on at a later date? Surely these pre-orders can't be legally binding then, as the customer could just enact their legally affirmed right to 'withdraw without penalty upon a demanded change of terms by the supplier'.
And if that's the case, what's to stop anyone pre-ordering with every network they can, and then picking from the best of the bunch only once they have all dealt their hands. Or are they just betting on ignorance of rights and fear of the cabal to stop people playing back equally?
And if a significant % of those going for the 4 played as such, could the feared drought not materialise as 20-30-40-50-60%(?) of the preorders got cancelled, once people decided on which network was best for them?
And similarly how is the ordering through Apple going to work? They don't ask you to commit to networks, and you seem to buy the phone outright at a greater cost than if you buy from a network, so are Apple expecting everyone buying from them will go PAYG, or will all the networks offer outright-owner iPhone 4 contracts that are cheaper than their subsidized ones, or will they remove the normal contract bars* for outright-owners, or will the increased cost be put down as a 'fanboy/girl tax'?
And while Three have out and out stated from the start they would emphatically wait to be the last so they could undercut everyone, does the industry not realise that this farce of poker-like intentional-info-void mindgames is worsening all their reputations, or do they not just care? (It's not like they have been short on time to finetune the offerings, given the launch date being predictable for a year, and the specs being out and confirmed in public for 2 months before launch, and them getting the usual tip-offs to organise themselves. And having a few years to get used to a smartphone that works.)
Am I missing something or it is a confusing as I'm confused?
*although we know there have been ways around those for a while, just that they make it cost morein total, unless you get gifted the phone *jealous*
How can 2 parties legally agree to a binding contract when one party is saying it's going to make up the terms it'll agree on at a later date? Surely these pre-orders can't be legally binding then, as the customer could just enact their legally affirmed right to 'withdraw without penalty upon a demanded change of terms by the supplier'.
And if that's the case, what's to stop anyone pre-ordering with every network they can, and then picking from the best of the bunch only once they have all dealt their hands. Or are they just betting on ignorance of rights and fear of the cabal to stop people playing back equally?
And if a significant % of those going for the 4 played as such, could the feared drought not materialise as 20-30-40-50-60%(?) of the preorders got cancelled, once people decided on which network was best for them?
And similarly how is the ordering through Apple going to work? They don't ask you to commit to networks, and you seem to buy the phone outright at a greater cost than if you buy from a network, so are Apple expecting everyone buying from them will go PAYG, or will all the networks offer outright-owner iPhone 4 contracts that are cheaper than their subsidized ones, or will they remove the normal contract bars* for outright-owners, or will the increased cost be put down as a 'fanboy/girl tax'?
And while Three have out and out stated from the start they would emphatically wait to be the last so they could undercut everyone, does the industry not realise that this farce of poker-like intentional-info-void mindgames is worsening all their reputations, or do they not just care? (It's not like they have been short on time to finetune the offerings, given the launch date being predictable for a year, and the specs being out and confirmed in public for 2 months before launch, and them getting the usual tip-offs to organise themselves. And having a few years to get used to a smartphone that works.)
Am I missing something or it is a confusing as I'm confused?
*although we know there have been ways around those for a while, just that they make it cost morein total, unless you get gifted the phone *jealous*