iPhone Freed From AT&T, Twice 357
A very large number of readers sent in stories about one or the other of the two new claims to have unlocked the iPhone for use on other GSM carriers. A New Jersey teenager, George Hotz, posted instructions for unlocking the iPhone using a soldering gun and a lot of patience. This is from coverage in a local NJ paper: "If someone handed him an iPhone new out of the box, he could modify it in 'about an hour,' he said. A person following his directions might take 'a good 12 hours,' the teen estimated." Hotz has put up a YouTube video substantiating his claim, and is conducting an eBay auction for one of his two hacked phones. The other hack is by a commercial outfit called iPhoneSIMfree.com, whose claim Engadget has verified. The company will be selling licenses to the hack, minimum quantity 500, at a price not yet announced. These hacks are much bigger news for those outside America. Expect to see an industry spring up to meet European (and Asian?) demand for freed iPhones.
Calling all Lawyers (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:Calling all Lawyers (Score:4, Insightful)
I smell Lawsuits.
Lawyers my eye, this is probably covered by the DMCA reverse engineering, same as for unlocking XBoxes and so forth. Simply purchasing an iPhone does not convey complete ownership and the right to dismantle protections under such law. Worse, offering up the modified iPhone on eBay, which I expect to see cancelled, will not simply bring grief from AT&T, but Apple as well. (It's currently up to $15K, which I doubt will be honoured.) It's best if someone does unlock the iPhone for other GSM services to keep their yap shut and use it as they see fit. Sadly, ego must be fed, but at what price?
Re:Calling all Lawyers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Calling all Lawyers (Score:5, Insightful)
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I had to look this up but Cell Phones have been ruled to be one of the exceptions to the the DMCA:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061124-8280
http://www.darknet.org.uk/2007/04/legal-to-unlock- cell-phones-since-november-2006/ [darknet.org.uk]
Cell Phone providers do not have to provide you with the ability to unlock your phones nor provide you with the information, but they cannot legally sue their
More Like.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Certifiable (Score:2)
physical? (Score:2)
Except for one small problem (Score:2)
But other than that tiny detail, I agree with your post
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Heck, what about the US? I'm wondering if the phone is unlocked....there is nothing preventing you from theoretically using it with a T-Mobile account in the US is there?
Bringing up another question....what if T-Mobile put in infrastructure to support iPhone visual voicemail...and other goodies that AT&T does...if they reversed engineered it in a 'clean' room, could they no
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple doesn't lose out of this, so I can't see them rushing to redesign the hardware or software.
The only loser it AT&T. And one can easily argue that if the provided a good connection product, at a competitive price and backed it up with quality service they'd have nothing to worry about.
But, of course, the only reason for all service providers all over the globe to use lock-ins is because the last thing any phone company offers is any of the above.
So, yeah, let's hear those world's smallest violins.
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?stor
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/07/19/ana
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Sure, they'll probably respond (and I'd wager that they'll wait until AFTER the phone sells on eBay--you know, to ensure some legal technicality ensues due to the sale) but really, if their business model relies (at least partially) on the revenue of another company, then shame on them.
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Funny)
I'll work on rounding up the proletariat to design games for the People, so we can all play without anyone being trampled under these bourgeois capitalists who build electronics for money and orchestrate evil plots to make their products more attractive through proprietary software.
--
ZDNet's George Ou Exposed as Ignorant Microsoft Shill (Zoon!) [roughlydrafted.com]
The assault on reason isn't just a political phenomenon. Microsoft has long been developing its own cast of apologists who have eked out full time careers in the field of sputtering out ignorant, unfounded claims with such insistence and volume that the undecided simply have no alternative but to line up and applaud their seemingly convincing rhetoric. Among them is George Ou, who unsurprisingly blogs for CNET's ZDNet branded website.
Apple iPhone vs the FIC Neo1973 OpenMoko Linux Smartphone [roughlydrafted.com]
Frequently compared to Apple's new smartphone, the OpenMoko FIC Neo1973 is described as the free and open software community's alternative to Apple's officially closed iPhone platform. Here's a look at what it really is and how it compares to the iPhone.
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Customer: Sure.
Apple salesperson: We'll get you signed up with AT&T.
Customer: No.
Apple salesperson: Is the only service that would work.
Customer: Saids who?
Apple salesperson: Steve Jobs.
Customer: My 13 year old neighbor said his iPhone works with hotdog phone service.
Apple salesperson: The warranty may be nulled.
Customer: Saids who?
Apple salesperson: Steve Jobs.
Re:More Like.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Depending on the balance of new customers to old (and 4GB iPhones to 8GB iPhones), Apple may just make more money by letting people buy the phone and use it with any provider, especially considering that the legal fees to try to enforce the locked phone policy would probably wipe out any difference in revenue from lost AT&T customers. That's provided that AT&T doesn't make too much of a stink with Apple about it. In any case, I'm sure the number of people who actually will end up unlocking their phones will be relatively small, so even AT&T doesn't have much to worry about, and Apple can enjoy those few extra sales that they'll get from it.
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Except that you're still pretty much SOL, as you're stuck with having to sign up with Rogers and pay them an arm and a leg to use the iPhone data services (outside of a suitable WiFi area, at least).
Or you could choose to sign up with Fido (which is owned by Rogers) but instead charges you a leg and an arm for the same services. And a few other appendages if you want to access Roger's "expanded network
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So basically what you are complaining about is that they won't help circumvent tax laws so you can basically get the phone for free cheap schmuck..
Here's a better idea figure out how you are going to explain to your tax auditor how the iPhone is a warranted business expense... I suppose next you are going to have "your" company buy you a ferrari too and claim that a
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Despite the exuberance of the dedicated fans, Apple needs to sell to average consumers if they're going to really succeed. It wasn't all the Mac fans buying iPods that made it so successful, it was the millions of regular, normal people who were drawn to a well-designed, innovative product and paying full price for it.
Retail is tricky though, because you have to keep giving customers what they want if you're going to stay on top. One reason Apple is sti
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More Like.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Very true, but I fear the government wants less smart people around.
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The truth ain't flamebait assholes.
Sorry, that's not the truth.
The United States Federal Government lives and dies by smart people. It's the smart people in the government that keep the planes flying, the nuclear weapons from blowing up in our faces, the law making halfway descent sense, and who translate the will of the elected charismatics into something mostly practical.
What the government doesn't want is smart rebels. Something entirely different from the larger subset of "smart people."
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you Grammar Nazi.
Re:More Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I call it really smart. He did his homework, found the DMCA provision/exemption that allowed him to do EXACTLY what he did, and announced it.... and as neither "pissing off companies" nor "screwing the warranty" is illegal in the US, he just assured himself a future job.
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If the iPhone contract is similar, then Apple may be required to update the iPhone software to attempt to thwart this.
Just keep your eyes open and see what happens to the two sites making claims. If they come down, Apple got to them.
Not just in lots of 500. (Score:3, Informative)
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Implications (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Implications (Score:5, Informative)
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But wouldn't the purchaser be bound by some sort of EULA? Consider DirecTV a number of years back who, despite the end-user purchasing the hardware, owned the access cards. That was eventually stated on the box the end-user purchased. I haven't seen the iPhone packaging, but I presume there is some reference that the purchaser i
Why do all this... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why do all this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why do all this... (Score:4, Interesting)
STFU - iPhone represents the most proprietary item you can obtain, with a hardware supplier who's not letting anyone but them write software, a software supplier who's famous for not running on any hardware other than that which they created (software supplier and hardware supplier being the same company, for anyone interested in vendor lock-in), and doing an exclusive deal with a monopoly telephone provider, just to put the monopilistic cherry on the proprietary icing.
How the fuck can you compare *that* with OpenMoko, a completely Free phone with a Free firmware, Free Operating System, Free applications, and community of Free Software guys prepared to spend $450 each just to debug the hardware for the benefit of humanity, so that for the first time ever, you can buy a phone that does whatever you want
I can jackson samuel-s fucking fuck compare it (Score:3, Funny)
Fuck, to fucking compare the fuck out of that fucking comparison, I fucking could fucking point out that for fucking fuck's sake, that fuck, it's like fucking OS X, sure fuc
Re:Why do all this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, I am all for OpenMoko and Free Software, I hope they do a great job. But it is absolutely ridiculous for you ignore the fact that for the average non-technical user, a polished, working product that exists now has a real practical value over something that is still in "pre-alpha" (again, their words) development.
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Anyone have any idea how many development units were made? That would at least give us a lower limit on the demand for such a device.
Re:Why do all this... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think the first production run of the neo and openmoko is due out in October/November.
I'm getting ready...it's gonna be schweet!
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Hehe... (Score:2)
But No camera
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Okay, I just had a mental image of carrying around a 300GB USB drive, with external power supply, just to boot my cell phone.
I'd do it, too. :|
-:sigma.SB
Re:Why do all this... (Score:5, Insightful)
The Neo is neat and all, but you don't even have to be that open to do better than the iPhone.
The iPhone is explicitly designed to create vendor lock-in with AT&T. If you want a fully functional smartphone that is unlocked by default, you can get something like a Nokia Communicator [wikipedia.org].
In fact, there are great stacks of phones (all generally unavailable from carriers in the US) that are fully functional smart phones that run on industry-standard Symbian (some even on not-fully-open Linux; hell, even Windows Mobile is better than an iPhone) and have such amazing features as being unlocked and supporting 3rd party apps by default.
Here are some more phones to compare the iPhone to:
Do you smell that? (Score:3, Funny)
Current cell phone DMCA exemption (Score:2, Informative)
The DMCA currently has an explicit exemption surrounding cellular phones locked to a specific provider (at least until November 2009). For more, see Ars Technica [arstechnica.com] or Freedom To Tinker [freedom-to-tinker.com].
There may be other legal avenues they can pursue, but DMCA appears to be out of the running.
Re:Do you smell that? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Do you smell that? (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Am I wrong?
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A contract is not required to complete the purchase.
One of my co-workers bought an iPhone and is using it month-to-month on AT&T. No trickery or hackery involved.
Meh (Score:5, Funny)
Thinks a lot of himself.. (Score:2, Offtopic)
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Limited in its usefulness.... (Score:4, Informative)
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Not everyone even cares about voicemail on their cell, let alone the visual kind. The iPhone has MUCH more going for it than that lame feature.
Wrong (Score:3, Informative)
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There is still voicemail--it just reverts to normal non-visual voicemail. There is still SMS--and on a phone which can use outright e-mail, why do you need SMS?
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I'm sure it requires more effort than the built in solution, but it doesn't care who your phone company is.
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Also, in my opinion, anyone who honestly believes that a 17 yr "figured out" the iPhone JTag interfac
Apple and AT&T won't care (Score:5, Insightful)
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From the engadget article mentioned in the summary:
Remember it's a simple software patch. That doesn't sound like much inconvenience. Put a nice, simple UI on it and there's nothing left preventing the "simple folk" from "hacking" their iPhones.
Actually, from what I understand, AT&T themselves did a terrible job at activating iPhones [engadget.com] during the launch. Still no problems selling, apparently.
Functionality (Score:3, Insightful)
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Still... (Score:4, Insightful)
You would think...... (Score:4, Interesting)
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You're probably thinking of Apple and the way they lock people into using iTunes store on their iPod.
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Most people choose the iPod for that. Kinda like how the Zune locks you into the Zune store. You could get a WM player, which allows you access to... a lot of stores with the same pricing and content. *twirls finger* It's all about making it easy.
Hoser.
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Licensing a hack? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Licensing a hack? (Score:5, Funny)
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Creating the hack may be fine, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
don't care (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is GPS primary? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yet almost all the time, I know exactly where I am. What I want to know is where something else is, and how to get there. Thus for me of primary importance is the map browsing, and at that the iPhone excels since it's so easy to do local searches on an area you are viewing, have it generate directions you can follow a turn at a time, and browse nearby streets to be sure exactly how to get there once you are close. Panning and zooming in and out a
Will eBay pull the auction? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I think eBay's reasoning behind preventing modchipped consoles from being auctioned is that they're often used to play pirated games. This iPhone hack allows one to use a different operator, which is not illegal AFAIK.
Chipped consoles are also used to play backups and homebrew, though, and are not in themselves (AFAIK/IANAL) illegal to own. They are, however, strongly discouraged by the big corporations who make the consoles, and who have aquarium tanks full of lawyers at the ready... as do ATT and Apple.
Hack licenses? (Score:4, Interesting)
Not Illegal (Score:2, Informative)
DMCA on cell phones [wired.com]
Interesting to see what will happen (Score:2)
It will be very interesting to see how the players react. My prediction?
Apple: won't care. more customers = better
T-Mobile: won't care.
AT&T: Pissed!
It is very important to distribute the "how-to" as quickly and widely as possible. I hope he published them before they sue his ass and try to silence him. Because I think AT&T will do exactly that...
Remember folks, sometimes it
How to connect to PC boards without soldering (Score:2)
Soldering on jumper wires is only for experimenting. If it really can't be done from software alone, what's needed is a a PC board test fixture. [testelectronics.com] Once you have one of those set up for the job, connecting to the right spots is easy. With that, and a control PC programmed to do all the necessary downloads and updates, the whole operation can be done in a minute or two per phone.
Coming soon to the back room of an off-brand cell phone store near you.
CNBC Coverage (Score:4, Informative)
Cheers,
Dave
Someone please explain this.. (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't buy cars from the Highway Department (or equivalent)
You don't buy your TV,dishwasher,microwave or other electrical appliances from the electricity company.
So why on earth do americans still meekly accept the logic of buying mobile phones from service providers?
The sooner unlocked phones proliferate, there won't be a need to jump through such hoops to unlock an iPhone, or any other phone.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
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It`s cheaper by about 100$, with probarly the same features(ofc in the iPhone the cost of AT&T monopoly is not included)
I'm pretty interested in the OpenMoko project myself, but let's be realistic here.
1) Noone's going to know about it but Slashdot nerds. It may sell alright and be moderately succesful, but nothing like the iPhone.
2) The Phase 2 version of the phone (the one intended for mass market) will cost $450 [openmoko.org] for the base model, or $600 for the Advanced (developer's) version. That makes the base model $50 cheaper than the 4GB iPhone, and $150 cheaper than the 8GB iPhone, but there's also much less storage spac
Wider Selection? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not quite sure what you mean here, since the application development aspect of the iPhone hacking community requires no licencese and is totally open. In fact I daresay there are a lot more iPhone applications right now than for OpenMoko...
I love the idea of OpenMoko and may get one myself. But if you think it's at the same level as the iPhone, that's just being delusional and check-list c