yes you need to unlock it for it to work in europe or anywhere else except if you are willing to pay high rooming fees.

And by the way you could still unlock the iphone even with all the upgrade and the new firmware that they have.

I just unlock more than 5 Iphones in the last couple of days easily and without any problems

I doubt you can unlock it anymore, since Apple is hopefully smarter, and the firmwire is going to be like impossible to break through. Anyways, I would try to get the iPhone with an authorized iPhone carrier and a plan. Apple is expanding the iPhone to 90 different countries, so I'm sure where you are, they will have it for you.

alright i have a question about this phone being used internationally does it need unlocking if you buy it from US and try to use it in Europe?