For those who might have missed it: Engadget has the scoop on a new software solution that unlocks Apple’s iPhone, allowing it to be used on any mobile carrier worldwide (presuming of course they run a 2G GSM network).
The creators of the iPhone hack (iPhoneSimFree.com) claim that the hack is “restore and upgrade resistant”; essentially reseting the phone and/ or loading the latest software updates doesn’t affect the hack. The big question is whether it will be resistant to future updates.
So will Apple try to block the hack, or will the Apple engineers in Cupertino be secretly cheering that their gift to mobile users can now be used worldwide and just simply leave the hack alone?
It is unlikely that the decision will be Apple’s alone. AT&T will be very unimpressed at the notion that users could buy an iPhone and bypass their network. The iPhone has already proved itself as being a massive confidence boost for what is considered by some to be America’s worst mobile carrier. The tangible benefits of a AT&T exclusive iPhone are also strong: roughly 1 million users are locked in to AT&T plans averaging somewhere between approx. $50-$100 per month per user, a benefit in the hundred of millions of dollars over the life of the contract. AT&T would be hoping for millions of additional users in the future as well.
On the other hand, someone, somewhere in Apple must be at least a little bit excited by the notion that more people than ever will now consider buying the iPhone. As much as Apple receives some financial benefit from AT&T in terms of a signup or ongoing payment, the real money for Apple is in the hardware and the Apple services such as iTunes, services iPhone users do and will use.
Either way, as long as the iPhone hack works America’s balance of payments should see a very small improvement in the coming months, as first adopters, and tech fiends world wide take iPhones home with them from their next trips to the United States.
What it seems everyone has forgotten is this:
Ya’all locked in 2 yrs. Early adopters have their phones now. Is xyz person going to pay the early term fee to move over to tmobile/etc? Nope.
BTW, I am still waiting for Mike to honor our deal regarding the corporate nature of the iphone
Most of the pressure will have to come from AT&T. I doubt Apple cares too much on their own.
David – I disagree – I bet Apple has quotas to fill for certain benefits with ATT.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act say you can crack cellular phone. There is no law. you can do anything with it. :/
I guess you will see apple Iphone 2 or blackberry 2.
It’s so sad Techcrunch guys who own IPHONE. I don’t have pay too much taxes and monthly bills.
I guess, I get lucky… I have higher bank interest rates
Apple should do partnerships with more telecom companies to sell their iphone as much as possible. While they have a really nice product that attracts the crowd (and sell it at an high price), they should take advantage of that.
Now, it will be hard for Apple to close a good contract with EU providers.
On youtube, I saw huge AT&T iphone bills…. I never brought one. lol….
http://www.yout...h?v=tvJ1RGlxe8Q
Allen
I was referring to non-American first adopters, but I do agree
If AT&T is regarded as the worst mobile carrier, what is the best??
By the time that the iPhone is ready for prime time, the At&T exclusivity will run out.
I see no reason for Apple to want to halt the hack unless they are getting kickbacks from Cingular.
Tricky issue for Apple.
If they act too aggressively to lock it back down, they risk seriously p***ing off a lot of their biggest fans. Word is that one of those unlock sites has 450,000 registrations of interest, and that’s just the people willing to register.
On the other hand, Apple are thought to be making $11/month from each new AT&T customer, and 10% from their recently agreed European partners. Each unlocked phone will forfeit that revenue.
But against that, they will sell a lot more phones.
Personally, I feel Apple was stupid to have not done something like this:
There was a rumor on Scott Bourne’s Apple Phone Show podcast in the weeks leading up to the June launch that Apple would sell an additional model alongside the others:
4 GB iPhone – $499 (locked to AT&T)
8 GB iPhone – $599 (locked to AT&T)
8 GB iPhone – $999 (unlocked)
The extra cost was to compensate for lost income from the revenue sharing deal. It wouldn’t have hurt AT&T, because people in the US still need service and AT&T is the only one with good nationwide coverage, a fair data plan (which the iPhone thrives on), and only AT&T, not T-Mobile, has the compelling visual voicemail feature. Most US people would buy the cheaper, networked locked model.
As someone currently not living in the US and needing to use an overseas carrier, I would have bought the $999 model on June 29.
So you lost that revenue from me, Apple. Judging from the massive interest in unlocking solutions, so would a lot of other people. More potential revenue lost.
As it was, I had to get the normal 8 GB model, use it as a super-iPod until August, and spend a fair amount of money and my time to get it unlocked. Apple got none of that. The same will soon be happening for people going with software unlocks.
The higher price point for an unlocked phone wouldn’t have affected the European launch, because again most (non hard core) people will want the cheaper price of the network locked phone, and to not have to go to the trouble of importing one. Those who want the flexibility could pay extra for it.
Since they chose not to do that, they’re now going to have to decide whether to deliberately break unlocked phones by leaving them stranded without updates.
If they do, there will be a lot of unhappy Apple customers around.
What value the “halo effect..?”
Anything to remove AT&T’s stranglehold on the iPhone! I recently had a horrible experience trying to get ATT wireless service. The telesales person took down the wrong mailing address, the phone got returned, and they didn’t even bother calling me to see if I still wanted it (or, God forbid, to apologize). I had to speak to 7 (I kid you not!) customer service/sales/telesales reps before I could even get the money for the phone back. Some of them couldn’t even find my order, event though it was open in front of me on my computer screen and I kept hollering the order number to them. I immediately went over to Verizon, where ordering online was a cinch, and no problems with service so far. ATT sucks as far as I am concerned, and I WILL NEVER BUY THE IPHONE AS LONG AS THE EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT WITH ATT REMAINS. Anyone agree with me on this?
SVDaily asked which carrier is tops. Well, in just about everyone’s book Verizon is tops for cell service because they have a very coveted part of the spectrum that makes it so you don’t drop calls very often. You can even be in a basement or elevator in many places and not lose a call. But that’s just voice.
Sprint is tops for data because they have more areas lit up for 3G, and don’t have very restrictive language to limit what you can do with it. (Being a total geek data is what matters to me, so I’m on Sprint.)
Compared with AT&T the only thing that Verizon and Sprint don’t have, both being EVDO carriers, is something that the newer HSDPA phones can do — you can be tethered to a laptop while talking at the same time. But perhaps VOIP could come to the rescue there. And note that the iPhone is NOT an HSDPA phone. Sadly it’s only 2G. Oh well. Still a cool piece of hardware.
If anybody has anything to lose, it is AT&T. After all, Apple sales will benefit more from the hack. Apple may “front” that it is trying to fix the hack to appease at&t, but really cmon..those boys in cupertino left the door locked and put the keys under the mat. They will be in NO rush to change the locks.
Well, I’m on a pay as I go plan with my iPhone, so I look forward to cancelling within the next few days and moving back to verizon!
WOOHOO!!
um, Jessica? You are aware verizon’s CDMA network will not be able to connect with the GSM iphone, right?
*zzzzzz*
This is bottom-of-the-barrel as far as Apple news goes. Did everyone forget that Apple needed network mods to get their phone to work (in toto) with a given network (hence the exclusivity)?
Next!
Talk about being in the right place at the right time:
I just read an article in last weeks Washington Post about Cellswapper.com – a carrier swapping service that made a killing by helping thousdands to get out of their Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint contracts in time for the iPhone launch.
Lucky Cellswapper. Now that this hack has been released, they will be making even more money – this time helping those same customers take their iPhone and get back to their old carriers as soon as possible, without having to pay any early termination fees.
Any procedure that requires a soldering iron is NOT going to be that big in terms of absolute numbers. Sure it’ll open it up to some well-off, hard core, non-American early adopters. But average consumers are not going to venture into this high uncertainty territory. Even if Apple doesn’t immediately block it, there’s always the threat that they can. Not to mention the old voiding of the warranty… on a $599 1.0 product no less.
Oh, and you lose visual voice mail (because that requires carrier support as well).
Apple might want to nip this in the bud to reassure AT&T. But honestly, iphones unlocked in this way will never get even close to 1%, which is to say the carriers with the exclusives will never know the difference.
Sadly, I personally, am a slave to a CDMA contract
I don’t know why some people are surprised that the iPhone is hacked, it’s the inevitable. This is only just the beginning.
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