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Saturday, August 25, 2007

Hats off to George Hotz!

Because ... locks are not the way of the digital age...

I just saw George Hotz on CNN, and since I can't very well applaud through the screen, I thought I might do it here:

Bravo, George, for unlocking iPhone!

What, exactly, does this mean?

The iPhone from Apple comes "locked" when purchased - meaning, it can only work with an AT&T sim card - you know, the card on which you have phone numbers from the phone you're currently using. The sim is a great enhancement to cell phone service - it means your directory is not hostage to the phone you're currently using.

But what is someone to do who buys an iPhone, but is currently using a phone with a sim from a non-At&T carrier? In George Hotz's case, that carrier was T-Mobile.

Well, the 17-year old took apart his iPhone, and after two months of tinkering and analyzing and soldering, he got his iPhone to work with his T-Mobile sim.

Which is exactly the way it should have been, all along.

Apple and AT&T may not like it, but what George Hotz did is perfectly legal - owners of cell phones have the right to put in whatever sim card they choose. Apple may have locked the iPhone, but George Hotz, having purchased his iPhone, had every right to unlock it, if he could.

I think he's taught Apple and AT&T a very important lesson in the digital age. It doesn't like locks.




See also about iPhones: ... iPhone Arrives - I Predicted It in 1979 and iPhone Boosts Literacy and History Lesson: iPhone Sales Will Exceed Expectations and New York Times' David Pogue Sings "I Want An iPhone" to "My Way" and iPhone: Not Better iPod but New Species Media ... Mouth-Watering iPhone Commercial and the Real World ... Nano-iPhone and the Dymaxion Principle ...









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2 comments:

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stuntmanben said...

Interview with iPhone Hacker George Hotz
http://www.webcastr.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&id=685

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