Image via Paul Stamatiou
It’s an open secret that there are legions of iPhone owners who operate their phones outside of Apple’s officially sanctioned networks AT&T, O2, Orange, and T-Mobile Germany, either because they live outside of the countries where the iPhone is on sale or because they’re aware that AT&T has terrible coverage.
What is less well-known is just how big the problem has gotten. BusinessWeek reported last week that 800,000 to 1 million iPhones have gone AWOL after legitimate purchase. And now this weekend, analyst In-Stat claims that 400,000 of those iPhone are all in operation on China Mobile, the largest carrier in Mainland China.
This makes a few things clear:
- Apple should get a distribution deal in China as fast as they can. They’re just leaving money on the table right now.
- Apple would be making more money if they hadn’t gone with an exclusive network for each market. If the iPhone ran GSM and CDMA and was available far and wide, they would be making more money and they wouldn’t need to concern themselves with unlocking. By getting into bed with AT&T and making a part of its revenue dependent on “legitimate use,” Apple has taken an anti-consumer stance that will hurt it in the long run. Unlocked iPhones are only a problem because they depend on an outdated business model. Apple should be embarrassed for taking part in it.
Via iLounge
Written by Pete Mortensen on February 18th, 2008 with no comments.
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Since its release, Apple has long been aware of the fact that a large proportion of iPhones in circulation are illegally unlocked. They've also made their best efforts to crack down on the figures, by releasing software which bricks unlocked iPhones, making them useless decorations.
Many units are totally unaccounted for, and recently compiled data has shown that these are most likely illegally unlocked versions, rather than legit versions waiting in inventory. Estimates for the unlocked European sales lie as high as 40% of the whole. If correct, these figures are a serious warning sign to Apple and their network partners. In order to combat this, the only thing they can really do is to clamp down on those jailbreaking the software updates. The SDK wont hurt either...
Things aren't so dire in the US, with research suggesting that somewhere in the region of 15-20% of iPhones are unlocked. These figures present a serious problem for AT&T, but Apple really needn't worry. People are obviously willing to make the effort themselves to get the iPhone, even if it means paying a premium for an unlocked version or moving to another carrier.
Written by Will on January 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on ATandT and Apple and Illegal and iPhone and unlocked.
You can buy officially an unlocked iPhone for 649 Euros in France with Orange, it’s much less than the equivalent in Germany (999 Euros). The conversion is $958 or £463.
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Written by Chris on November 28th, 2007 with no comments.
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An automated windows tool called iDemocracy for “jailbreaking” iPhones running the 1.1.1 firmware to allow the installation 3rd party apps has been released. If you’ve unlocked your iPhone, make sure you “revirginize” it first.
This will allow you to install the latest version of the free AnySIM unlocking tool.
Similar Posts:Unlock iPhone 1.1.1 With New Version of [...]
Copyright © 2007 -- This post was imported from the feed for iPhone Unlocked
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Written by eas on October 25th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on 3rd party and Apple and Windows and hack and iPhone and idemocracy and jailbreak and unlock and unlocked.
It looks like it is possible to roll phones with the 1.1.1 firmware back to 1.0.2. A good thing if you want to run 3rd party apps. Eventually this may open the door to unlocking the phone again. The method requires a handful of 3rd party apps, and jumping backwards through a few hoops.
Mac Instructions
PC [...]
Copyright © 2007 -- This post was imported from the feed for iPhone Unlocked
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Written by eas on September 29th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1.1.1 and bricked and iPhone and unbricked and unlocked.
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