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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."
Apple is going to have a serious problem applying this in a lot of European countries. They have laws that actually forbid this sort of tying 2 vendors into 1 product.
I know for a fact that France and the Netherlands have laws for that, and if I remember correctly, Germany has as well.
So either they're not going to be able to sell iPhones there, or they have to be sold seperately, which then opens them up for unlocking anyway.
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
It was announced today that two carriers (at least) in Australia (Optus was one) will be offering the new iPhone on "prepaid" schemes. i.e. No contract. How much the phones will cost is not mentioned but if they are just $A/$US equivalent then they will be very cheap phones for the price. Enough to drive most others off the market.
As far as I recall, Apple was actually shopping around for a few different providers. Apparently when they were in talks with Verizon there were too many demands on Verizon's end. (Surprised?) AT&T was the largest carrier available willing to let the phone be what Apple wanted it to be. Just something to think about.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
Yes you're right, this is sort of news for the newcomers. However I'm disputing the heading blurb's use of 'finally figured out a way'. a) they figured this out long ago, b) it's already been proved ineffective. :P I think it's just sensationalizing something that _everyone expected_ anyway.
'Great Britain' and 'United Kingdom' are also not interchangeable.
Yup. Just to clarify things, Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain, but is part of the United Kingdom.
You can cancel your contract without paying a fee, but you must, alas, in that case return the phone.
you have to give back the phone, in new condition.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
If I'm going to be locked into a contract either way, I'd much rather have my phone subsidized (new plan) than not (old plan).
I was all set to buy one of the new iPhones until more data started leaking out. You know that nice iPhone plan they had? 450 minutes, unlimited data, 200 SMS for $60 a month?
Gone
In what can only be described as "easier", you now have to use the standard AT&T model. Their lowest plan is 450 minutes which is $45. You have to add $5 to get 200 SMS messages (note: this seems to include MMS and other things too, which is different). Then there is the iPhone data plan that you are required to buy: $30 a month.
So instead of a simple little $60 plan, they now expect me to pay... $80.
So let's see... $20 difference per month X 24 months = $480. Take out the cut they were paying to Apple (wasn't it like $5?) and that's another $120.
So AT&T's revenue goes up $600 per two year 3G contract.
I'm not so sure I want to pay $80 a month for an iPhone. I was hesitant with $60 but this makes me question things much more.
Congratulations again AT&T. You took the must buy product of the year for me and managed to screw it up.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
They do, in the UK you can purchase the new iphone on the pay as you go deal, which means no contract you pay the full price for the phone and you can do as you wish with it. Here is some info from the O2 deal.
If O2's network was good enough I wouldn't have so much of a problem with this. However, O2's network is simply not worth being tied into. I put an O2 sim into my HSDPA phone (TyTN II) and I swear it wasn't even getting 64kb/s, so it's not going to benefit much from the 3G version. If this were on Vodafone in the UK, I would extend the contract as that was several times faster than O2's when I tested it (It felt about 5x faster at least).
Then why did this happen?
The article I just read seems to indicate otherwise in Australia:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23839650-5016091,00.html
In fact the opening blurb of the article states: "THE next-generation 3G Apple iPhone will be available in Australia on prepay plans without a contract when it is released here next month."
This is how things normally happen over here. You can buy the phone outright at a premium or go with a contract and a reduced (initial) price.
So basically, you will be able to buy the phone unlocked but it is going to be a tad more expensive than the $199 / $299 price points that were mentioned.
I doubt it. I believe that in Steve's presentation yesterday, he said that the maximum price anywhere in the world would be $199... meaning that they aren't going to allow any unlocked iPhones. Not to mention, everywhere (that I'm aware of) that Apple is selling iPhones, they're doing it with exclusive agreements with one carrier in each market.
Or to totally spell it out for the geo-politically impaired :
United Kingdom - passport issuing union of four countries (and their minor island possessions)
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Great Britain - an island comprising three countries
England
Scotland
Wales
Ireland - an island comprising two countries
Northern Ireland
Ireland (aka Republic of Ireland)
Note that someone born in England is likely to identify themselves as English or British (born on the island of Great Britain) rather than as "citizen of the UK". AFAIK there's not even a word to identify yourself as a "United Kingdomer".
You deserve the mod points for the insightful statement that follows this, but I have to take exception to the above. Great Britain is an island, which contains the countries of England, Wales and Scotland, and forms part of the sovereign state of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or UK for short.
It was not until deregulation (carter era?? I cant quite recall when it happened now) that you could buy any old phone and attach it. It may also surprise you to learn there was only one phone company too.
At the time it made a lot of sense. The networks made a lot of assumptions about what was connected to them. They trusted the hardware. they trusted signals coming in from other nexuses. trust trust trust.
but just like trusting client side authentication leads to grief, the rise of phone phreaks injecting their own signals into a trusted network led to free phone calls.
I can still see why the cell phone company has reasons that they don't just want to permit any possible activity on their network. They are all about quality of service for as many possible people not an all-you-can buffet where a few people can pig out.
But I digress. Leasing telephone equipment has been the norm since alexander graham bell. this little experiement where you "purchase" a phone then lease the line has been pretty short lived so far. So get over it.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
You're wrong about that. A number of countries will have two providers for the iPhone.
It appears that O2 (in the UK) is going to offer the iPhone on a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) deal. This is a non-contract way of running a phone over here. You buy top-up cards with airtime (say £10 or £20) when you run out.
If the premium on the phone isn't huge (you usually pay more for PAYG as it's not a guaranteed income to the operator), it could be a good way of getting a non-contract iPhone to jail-break. If it can be jail broken (I give it 10 hours, any advances).
More info : http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paygo
"If A equals success, then the formua is A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut" - A Einstein.
There are countries like Belgium where it is illegal to sell a locked phone.
In Belgium there is no concept of subsidied phone. You buy your phone and your contract separately.
Some other countries like France allow locking but still requires that an unlocked version is sold ( it is currently possible to buy an unlocked iphone in France )
Sure Apple could buy a law, but it more realistic to think that the 199$ 'maximum price' was a hyperbole. ( Also think that currently the USD is worth nothing - taking Steve speech literally would mean an iPhone for 100 GBP in the UK - yeat, you can barely enter a Apple Store with that money in your pocket. )
I think that John Gruber nailed it. By halving the price and rolling out in 70 countries simultaneously, Apple is going for market share in a huge way. If you thought the hype leading up to the US launch last June was over the top, I think you'd better go hide in a cave in the weeks leading up to July 11th. The global excitement and anticipation will feed on itself and drown out any other consideration, as far as the general public is concerned. The iPhone noise is going to be so loud that other mobile manufacturers are going to be completely drowned out, and they damned well know it. Nothing they do between now and the launch of iPhone 2.0 will even register on the public consciousness; they see the train coming and can't get off the track. I strongly suspect that July 11th will ring in like the crack of doom for most of them.
Ah, but don't you see, like most Slashdotters, you fail to realize that you are not an ordinary consumer of electronics. The iPhone wasn't designed for you, and the marketing isn't aimed at you. The general public, however, is going to leap at the iPhone like a trout going for a fly. As bizarre as it may seem to people on this and other tech forums, in-store activation is going to be seen as a huge draw for Joe and Jane Consumer, to whom even the relatively simple iTunes activation is a pain in the butt. They want the instant gratification of buying their new iPhone and being able walk out of the store boasting to their friends: "OMG Joanie! Guess what I'm using to call you!!"
I think that Gruber is absolutely correct: the iPhone only has two new hardware features, namely, 3G networking and GPS, which means Apple was concentrating on getting a cheaper 3G iPhone into the hands of as many consumers as possible. Money quote:
"The physical phone is not the story. A year from now, the iPhone 3G will be replaced by another new model. The platform is the story. Platforms have staying power, and, once entrenched, are very hard to displace."
Bold emphases mine. The platform is indeed the story, and Microsoft is painfully aware of what Apple is trying to do (and may very well succeed at doing), namely producing the gateway device to Web 2.0 and their true bid for world domination, the iTunes Store. People pay billions each year for ringtones for God's sake, not because they're worth that much, but because of the convenience of being able to get it instantly. You had better believe that they'll happily pay through the nose for the convenience of having music, video, games, etc. right at their fingertips. It's all about impulse purchasing, something retailers have known about for decades, which is why candy and other high margin items are located right at grocery checkout stands. People will pay for instant gratification and not regret it.
BUT, your claim that the take-home lesson of Economics 101 is that people are rational is ludicrous. People are clearly not rational in their economic decision-making, and this is why so many of the principles of Economics 101 fail in the real world.
I stole this sig from someone cleverer than me.
You saved one character by clipping "parents". It wasn't worth loosing your credibility ;)
Don't delude yourself - if you were born non-rich in a capitalistic society, then you've been a slave since the day you were born. Slavery didn't end, it just evolved.
New Activation Process and BRE: The iPhone 3G will be activated at point of sale when the device is purchased, in store. The BRE period will change from 14 days to 30 days and will require the device to be returned to place of purchase before service is cancelled.
http://gizmodo.com/5014909/att-memo-to-retail-managers-shows-iphone-3g-policy
Sounds to me like if you "can't find" your phone, they'll just keep billing you for the service.
02 are advertising a pay as you go option http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paygo
'Customers will soon be able to enjoy all the great features of iPhone without a monthly contract with the iPhone for Pay & Go'
This may be posted further down, but the one thing this guards against is the people who buy multiple iPhones to resell. AT&T won't let you sign a new contract for a number of months (year?) after you cancel one. So you'll only get to buy, cancel and resell one phone per SSN.
Except Apple cannot forbid that in many markets. Apple can refuse to sell iPhones in particular markets, such as France and Germany, but if it makes a deal with a French telco (for example), that telco must offer the iPhone unlocked.
I don't see any evidence that Jobs is going to refuse to sell 3G iPhones in markets like France, so despite the "Maximum of $199" claim, you can expect to see unlocked 3G iPhones, and they'll probably cost a tad more than $199.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
450 minutes for $39.99 per month NOT "$45". Also, the $30 a month iPhone 3G data plan INCLUDES 200 SMS messages. Why are you adding the separate SMS message feature @ an additional $5 when it is included?
$69.99 per month iPhone 3G (450 minutes, Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Calling, 5000 Nights & Weekend minutes + Unlimited Data/Email + 200 SMS messages)
Actually, when he was talking about the $199 maximum, he used the words "most countries".
There's the loophole for charging more for an unlocked version in countries that require it.
Italy, for one, will have two carriers. http://gizmodo.com/387978/italys-iphone-to-have-two-carriers-the-end-of-exclusivity
Vodaphone and Optus Mobile have both announced they'll be carrying the iPhone in Australia.
On top of that,
Here at Brazil the operators can't sell locked phones. It's the law... some laws here were made to actually protect the consumer.
Yes, that's right. IPhone will be sold unlocked here at Brazil.
---- You know how some doctors have the Messiah complex - they need to save the world? You've got the "Rubik's" complex
http://gizmodo.com/5014817/world-gets-iphone-and-multiple-carriers-per-country-canada-stops-whining
Never mind--I just discovered MetroPCS is CDMA. Drat.
Oh well, there are still other sub-national wireless providers, and I'm sure at least some follow Metro's contractless model.
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
In Australia, both optus and vodaphone are selling the iPhone.
There are three major carriers in Australia, and Two of them have already announced they'll be selling iPhones. There is speculation that the third may also, but that carrier (Telstra) isn't really known for flexibility and innovation. So, the "One carrier per country" theory has definitely been blown away with the new iPhone.
Australians are quite accustomed to phone contracts as well. It has been the mainstream method used by consumers to get their phones for over a decade. A contract will not be a deterrent to market share in Australia.
Yes, that's right. IPhone will be sold unlocked here at Brazil.
Same rules in France, I seem to recall. At a HUGE price premium. The unlocked iPhone launched in France (late November) for €749 (about $1100 at the time). This price undercut Germany's unlocked price of €999 (about $1475).Unlocked French iPhones on sale for $1,106
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
India for example. Both Vodafone and Airtel are going to carry it here.