Report: Apple threatens shops selling iPhone in Singapore

Apple recently threatened retailers in a Singapore mall with legal action if they continue to sell unlocked iPhones, prompting many to stop selling the handsets, The Straits Times newspaper reported Friday.

"Apple threatened in an e-mail to go after them for illegally 'unlocking' parallel imported iPhones," the newspaper reported Friday, citing several anonymous sources. Apple threatened to pursue damages of S$1,000 (US$691) for every unlocked iPhone sold by retailers in Sim Lim Square, a local mall full of electronics shops, the report said.

The Straits Times report indicated Apple's threats rest on a claim that unlocking the iPhone was a violation of the software license agreement. That is not the case in the U.S., where laws provide a specific exemption that allows users to unlock cell phones.

Apple was not available to comment on the report.

The iPhone is not officially available in Singapore, but unlocked handsets have been on sale for some time in local electronics market, as they have in other countries around Asia. However, calls to several shops in Sim Lim Square Friday confirmed that unlocked iPhones have become scarce.

"We used to sell it, but not anymore," said a sales manager at Royal Plus Pacific, an electronics shop in Sim Lim Square. The shop stopped selling iPhones because they ran out of stock, he said, adding they hadn't received a threatening e-mail from Apple.