Apple Cracks Down On iPhone Unlockers

An anonymous reader writes "It looks like Apple and its wireless operator partners have finally figured out a way of cracking down on iPhone unlockers by making it a requirement to sign up for a contract before you can get your hands one. "It's obvious why this has happened though. This method means you're tied into a contract, or you're paying O2 and Apple a massive wad of cash for the privilege of owning a 3G iPhone. We're disappointed about this decision, but it does make business sense." Both ATT in the US and O2 in the UK are implementing the new activation system on July 11th, when the iPhone 3G goes on sale."

Comments

attention all fanbois!

[Anonymous Coward]

steve jobs got you where he wants you again. keep throwing cash at the new emperor! hail caesar!

Re:I don't see how it makes good business sense

[TheRaven64]

This is only true if you are just comparing bullet points of features. The iPhone is the only mobile I've used with an interface that doesn't completely suck (it's not perfect, but it is a lot better than the competition at the moment). I am not really interested in a phone that's that locked down (I want a developer platform, and that doesn't mean one with an SDK full of arbitrary restrictions), but this isn't an important concern for a lot of people.

I don't really like apple anymore.

[KenRH]

I have an iPod, i bought my girlfriend an iPod. I really like the design of the lastest iMac's and apples laptop computers.

But I dont like the way apple tries to force the customers bying their hardware into using it only the way they like it.

Like apple tries to make it hard to use anyting but iTunes to load music onto the iPod. Not only by not disclosing the file-formats needed to load the music, by when it was reverse enginered they starded making cryptogaphicaly signatures on some of the files to make it imposible to write third party software for this purpose. (Anyone know if this has been cracked yet?)

I think this as well as the way they treat the iPhone owners disclose an unhealty attitude towards their customers.

I will not buy any apple produkts in the future.

Re:Correction

[molarmass192]

Ummm ... Apple only exists today because people are willing to pay a premium price for a premium product. There are cheaper computers and phones readily available. Make the product good enough, and people will pay for them. I speak as the owner of a top of the line $2700 MacBook Pro and a pre-price cut $600 iPhone. On that note, I wouldn't pay $600 for a Dell laptop or $60 for a Motorola phone because they're both crap in comparison.

Re:Seems reasonable

[sandysnowbeard]

I haven't checked my facts on this, but last I recall there wasn't really a 3G network in the United States. Yes, Apple and ATT are taking you for a ride, but do keep in mind that some of that goes to development and infrastructure.