Last week, a guy known as geohot succeeded in unlocking the iPhone. This technique actually requires opening up the case, and shorting a circuit on the board. Tiny little solder joints needs to be desoldered and resoldered. All sorts of software hacks need to be applied. Apple has really made this tough.
And of course, it still happened. The iPhone was unlocked in a matter of weeks. So what was the point of all this? Geohot has unlocked a second phone, and it’s on eBay right now. Look:
Update: It’s now up over $35,000,000. If this wasn’t a scam before, it is now.
The auction was posted a little over 12 hours ago and bidding is already over $2k. I foresee this hitting $5-8k. This is how desirable it is. And this is a 4GB iPhone. You can get a refurb 4GB for $399. Unlocked it’s worth more than 5 times that, apparently.
I’m not going to start complaining about Mac fanboyism. I’m just as bad as anybody. I get excited when there’s a keynote. I head over to one of the major Mac news sites doing live coverage and hit refresh like a fiend. I’ve got Macs in my house from Color Classic to Bondi iMac, all the way up to Macbook Pro.
I wanted to like the iPhone. I really did, but I need tactile feedback. My cell phone is a simple Nokia flip phone, and I was itching to get rid of it in favor of the latest, greatest gadget from Apple. But no buttons? When my phone rings, I pull it out of my pocket and flip it open without looking at it. I can send a text without looking at the screen, for the most part. How do I do that with no buttons?
I do admit the interface is gorgeous, though, and that’s what Apple is great at, innovation in design and look and feel. And everybody is chomping at the bit to use it with their current service providers.
Hear that Apple? WIth their current service providers. People are out there who will pay thousands of dollars to get an unlocked iPhone. They’ll just keep hacking at it until everybody’s done it. Open up the interface a little and let people do what they want. You’re already making a killing on the hardware, why not open it up to a larger audience and sell way more of them?
Constable Odo responded on 24 Aug 2007 at 7:02 pm #
I suppose it would be cheaper to wait until the European iPhones are released since they probably won’t be tied to any one carrier. Imagine soldering circuit points on a $600 iPhone. It voids the warranty and you won’t be able to get AppleCare. I’m rather puzzled as to why anyone would pay so much for a modified cellphone that can be possibly de-hacked with a firmware update. At least there is one hack that doesn’t require soldering. That makes a lot more sense in protecting your investment.