Maybe I’m the one dim bulb in the chandelier, but why do so many people want to unlock their iPhone, and for that matter, what does it mean to unlock the phone anyway? I can’t read any Apple-related Web site nowadays without 25% of the news being about this, that or the other person who figured out some way to unlock the phone?
It is a pretty weird phenomenon, actually, the zeal with which hackers are trying to figure out how unlock the Apple iPhone and the commensurate enthusiasm with which Apple-related sites from The Unofficial Apple Weblog to Macworld are reporting their day-to-day progress.
Or is it?
Apple has always sold a locked, proprietary operating system, paired with its own hardware. Years ago there were clone Macs on the market – I had one, and it was great – but nowadays the only hardware you can run Mac OS X on is from Apple Computer. If Microsoft said you had to buy a Microsoft PC to run Windows, everyone would go bonkers and the government would step in. Heck, if there was a custom version of Windows for Dell computers and Dell said that it was designed to only run on Dell-branded gear, people would be darn upset. But Apple just zooms right along, all forgiven, as long as they keep releasing nice looking, clean, elegantly designed software and hardware. (I should know, I have five Macs in my office right now)
When Apple introduced the iPod, we saw the same sort of thing: if you want to put music on your iPod, you were forced to use Apple’s proprietary iTunes software.The result? A great pairing of hardware and software – when it works – and a cottage industry of software developers who reverse engineer the iPod and offer up third party solutions for getting into it and doing what you want. Two standouts: Senuti and ipodcopy.
When Apple released the iPhone, it’s no surprise at all that these same “circumvent the system” sort of hackers promptly start exploring its capabilities and figuring out how to manipulate the music, photographs, data files, and even ringtone library, without using any Apple software. Why? Partially because it’s an interesting challenge, and partially because many people (myself include) believe that if you buy a device, you should have the right to use it as you desire, not as the manufacturer requires.
I switched cellular service from Verizon to Cingular (now AT&T) when I bought my Apple iPhone: why should I be required to do so when I was a happy Verizon customer for years? Because Apple had cut a deal with Cingular as their cellular service provider, an exclusive deal, and the code in the phone that controls that activation capability is the lock that so bothers people with the phone.
Want to use an Apple iPhone with Verizon, T-Mobile or another carrier? If you could just “unlock” the phone, you could activate it against any cellular network that supported it. And since it’s just a GSM phone, that should encompass quite a few alternatives. If it was unlocked.
And so that’s where all the interest comes from and that’s why the media is so interested in the story too. It’s a sort of digital David and Goliath situation, where the individual hackers are toiling away in their bedrooms trying to figure out what The Big Corporation (Apple) has done to lock the phone into the Cingular/AT&T network. Crack that, and you can open up the phone to anyone who wants to buy one and use it, regardless of their cellular carrier.
Make sense? Me, I’d just be worried that a software update would squeeze me back onto the Cingular/AT&T network, just as many of the Sony PSP updates are to add more blocks to hackers who have torn it apart and added lots of cool capabilities. Anti-consumer? Well, I think that depends on how you look at it, and what side of the purchase transaction you’re on.
Personally, I think it’s fascinating and wonderful that so many smart people are working out how the iPhone works and how to make it more useful and more fun. Heck, that’s why I bought the phone in the first place. Now it’s up to Apple to play nice with the community, for once, rather than make it harder and harder for innovation to occur away from 1 Infinite Loop [Apple’s main street address in Cupertino, California].
How about you? Do you have an Apple iPhone and would you be interested in having it unlocked so you could use it with any cellular carrier you desire?
ps: don’t forget to check out all the other iphone help I have here on the site too!
If you buy a device, like a phone a computer or a car, you should be able to use it any way you choose.
Yes, the manufacturer of a GM Suburban, maybe didn’t plan to have it roll over numerous times in a movie stunt, but the producer was not prevented from doing so.
And I don’t believe the producer might even attempt to claim a warranty issue on such a case.
The truth is that, the iPhone is a magnificent device and even if you don’t mind signing up for a 2 year commitment with a carrier, you should unlock it to unleash all its capacity.
2 year contracts and the likes, to me are a statement of just how much their products and customer service suck. If they had a consistently good product (phone service, satellite TV, you name it) then they wouldn’t need a contractual obligation to force their clients to stay with them.
No one forces me to buy my MacBooks and iMacs… but almost every year I update them… because they are superior products and their customer support has always been excellent.
So there you have it!
‘One Policy, One System, Universal Service’ –AT&T president Theodore Vail in 1907
🙂
In my experience, hardware works best with the software for which it was designed, and vice versa: Apple computers and the Mac OS, iPod and iTunes, my laptop and Windows XP (my wireless card was definitely not designed for Linux). Sometimes hacks work wonderfully. For instance, many video game console emulators flawlessly render native games.
But I would not think about pestering Microsoft if I unsuccessfully try to install Linux on an Xbox. So, when I hear people complaining about how an Apple software update does not play nice with their hacked or unlocked iPhones, I feel no sympathy whatsoever. If one wants to use his iPhone in an unsupported way, one should be ready to sever all ties with Apple support.
Though I would say they ought to be content to use their iPhones the way Steve Jobs intended.
Michael, I agree that if you’re messing with the hardware that the manufacturer — Apple, in this case — has no obligation to honor the warranty, but when I can’t rip a DVD I own and pour it onto my iPhone for later viewing without using illegal software (Handbrake/Clone DVD Mobile), I do think it’s bogus.
Kitz, sorry if I was unclear. I have never bought a single song from the iTunes Store, actually, and have over 40GB of music. Lots and lots of CDs on my shelves too. 😉
iPod does’t restrict you to importing music just from iTunes Music store. Any mp3 file can be imported into iTunes and loaded on your ipod.
You wrote “[. . .] many people (myself include) believe that if you buy a device, you should have the right to use it as you desire, not as the manufacturer requires.” Um. If the iPhone were MERELY a device, I’d agree. But the iPhone is comprises both hardware and software, and, under U.S. copyright law and international copyright law, there really are restrictions as to what I can do with the software. You may not like it, but that’s the way it is. Nor can I demand that the manufacturer of a device honor a warranty if I break the terms of that warranty (say, by soldering things inside the device): contract law applies that case. Again, you may not like it, but that’s the way it is.
The Apple police aren’t going to come to your home and arrest you if you mess with the iPhone’s software or hardware, but they are under NO obligation to honor their side of a warranty or licensing agreement that you haven’t honored yourself.