[NewsPoster]

Following sales opening in Australia, Asia, and Europe, Apple has started selling the iPhone 5s through its online store in the United States, hours before its expected retail release. While the iPhone 5c has been available to pre-order through the store since the 13th of September, and is also currently available to buy, this is the first time that the iPhone 5s is being sold through Apple itself.

Customers looking to buy the gold version of the iPhone 5s will be forced to wait, just like users in other regions, as the Apple website shows it as being available to ship in October for all carriers and all capacities. Other colors remain unaffected, and show a shipping availability of one to three business days for most options, though devices usable on T-Mobile and the 64GB space gray model on AT&T are listed at the time of writing as available to ship in seven to ten business days.

The iPhone 5c is currently showing availability dates of one to three days for all color options across all carriers listed in the online Apple Store.

[HPeet]

...so, a contract is required on all carriers except T-Mobile?

[Spheric Harlot]

If the market works the way it does in Europe (and I have no reason to doubt it), carriers pay normal market price for iPhones.

If they sell them without contracts for regular market price, they're losing money on stocking and sales personnel. They might do it anyway to draw customers into the stores, which might explain why T-Mobile USA is doing it.