Apple to Actively Stop SIM Unlocking

[MacRumors]

One piece of news from the London keynote event was Apple's first public stance on SIM unlocking tools that have become available for the iPhone. The freely available software unlocks the iPhone from AT&T's service and allows users to use any SIM card from any network.

When questioned, Steve Jobs indicated that they will actively try to stop SIM unlocking:

"It's a cat-and-mouse game," said Jobs. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in."

Article Link

[dfnj123]

looks like all the unlocking people are screwed...

[PatMack]

nooooooooooooooooooooooo

ok, worse things have happened, but still.

[MikeTheC]

One has to wonder how defensible a position that is, considering unlocking is not illegal, and in fact it would seem unlocked phones are the typical M.O. of the European cell phone telecom industry.

Ok, Steve, how are you going to fight that, exactly?

[dfnj123]

btw... by law, all phone in the UK must be unlocked...

You lucky UK people....

[Peace]

I for one hope they do.Things have never been so screwed up.
The U.S. isn't Europe either.

[RichP]

This is a much bigger concern for european customers more than US, correct? I wouldnt exactly consider t-mobile a step up in service from ATT. (unless of course you are locked into a contract)

[stevehp]

whatever...

Give it an hour and there will be a fix after each update.

[synth3tik]

The people who thought Apple would just sit back and not take action are just silly. Apple is partnered with AT&T and now O2, by not doing anything they could lose these partnerships. Silly, silly people.

[JonMan]

What exactly can Apple do to prevent unlocking? Worst case scenario, I will not accept any updates.

[sparkleytone]

Originally Posted by stevehp

whatever...

Give it an hour and there will be a fix after each update.

Yeah. How long did it take to unlock the first time?

[Jarbo]

Bottom line is that no company can defeat an army of hackers. The iphone begs to be hacked and there are dedicated legions out there willing to try.

In the end something will give but if Apple forces the issue to hard, the community will get bored and backlash will ensue.

[severe]

Originally Posted by MikeTheC

Ok, Steve, how are you going to fight that, exactly?

hmm..

I'd think being that..you know.. dood's been in the game a while now, he just may have the resources to keep up.

My bet's on Steve, care to wager?

[nato64]

Is anyone surprised?

I'm surprised that Apple hasn't done anything to thwart 3rd party applications... thus far. My theory is that unlocking is an issue while hacking isn't. If you unlock your phone it sort of takes money out of AT&T's pocket that they were going to receive from every iPhone owner. And to someone replying to me saying, "It's my phone, I can do what I want!" I agree. But understand that exclusivity is part of Apple's contract with AT&T and Apple is obligated to protect the iPhone from being unlocked.

[Darkroom]

Originally Posted by Jarbo

Bottom line is that no company can defeat an army of hackers. The iphone begs to be hacked and there are dedicated legions out there willing to try.

In the end something will give but if Apple forces the issue to hard, the community will get bored and backlash will ensue.

i agree 100%... apple can't do anything, especially in countries like CANADA where they iPhone isn't even available yet and where AT&T doesn't exist...

[mrkgoo]

Originally Posted by sparkleytone

Yeah. How long did it take to unlock the first time?

It's not about how long it take, but whether you're willing to give up the updates until a hack is figured out. For me, part of the joy of Apple products is their seamless integration. If I have go hack my phone everytime there is an update - well, I'd be kind of annoyed.

Then again, I don't even have an iPhone, so none of this is relevant to me.

[jt2ga65]

Doesn't Apple get money from AT&T from the monthly recurring fees? If that is true, is it any wonder that Apple wants to keep their phones where they will continue to make money on them?

Honestly, as good as Apple may be, they are a company in the business of making money for their shareholders. As such, I'm sure that they prefer to charge for all programs and services they can. I am actually surprised that they let anyone write third party applications for their computers, let along the iPhone. Back in the Apple II days, it was VERY hard to find any decent 3rd party software. Well, at least it was for me.

-jt2

[DeathChill]

Originally Posted by severe

hmm..

I'd think being that..you know.. dood's been in the game a while now, he just may have the resources to keep up.

My bet's on Steve, care to wager?

My bet is on the hackers for sure. Apple can't stop them as is evidenced with each OS X release for Intel.

[Americanloti]

What about the bluebox, Steve?

[NewtypeCJ]

Maybe stopping it completely is impossible. But they don't have to let unlocked phones play nice with iTunes, I'd imagine. And if they cut it off at that level it'd be pretty devastating since iTunes is the way most people would get all their media onto it, right?

[EricHvk]

nothing digital is unhackable however you look at it. and oh well so what if they lock it and no one takes the time to fix it? everything i want to do is there nice sms, good phone, aim, video ipod, and ipod if anything if itunes wont let me sync thigns to it even if i dont update or if I do update to osx 10.5 and itunes wont let me we can all ssh our desired media to the iphone manually.

if you have an unlocked phone dont update the firmware.

I think it is very stupid apple has it so locked down, that has been one great thing about osx is it was so open, Im sure it will change or be brought to other carriers eventually. It may be a number of yrs tho.

[EricNau]

Originally Posted by JonMan

What exactly can Apple do to prevent unlocking? Worst case scenario, I will not accept any updates.

I suspect Apple has been purposefully holding off on some pretty nice updates. How ingenious would it be for Apple to wait until the iPhone is hacked and then release the updates that add critical features and also coincidentally break the hacks?

Or... If Apple really wanted to keep the upper-hand, they could always disable your phone upon the next sync/charge.

[polishmacuser]

darn it steve why wont you let us live freely i want to use my iphone in europe without being charged 8,000 dollars and yes i was charged 8,000 but they removed it thank god. I would say i had the highest bill so far ever reported you dont have to believe me but i did have that bill.

[darkcurse]

I don't think its Apple's idea of wanting to keep the phone unlocked. More like ATT breathing down Steve's back because they're the one's who have the most to lose if lets say the iPhone is unlocked. Apple would make more money selling iPhones than the revenue sharing from ATT I would assume. So it is in Apple's interest to get as many iPhones out there as possible.

[shadowfax]

Originally Posted by EricNau

Or... If Apple really wanted to keep the upper-hand, they could always disable your phone upon the next sync/charge.

Apple CANNOT afford to stay ahead of the hackers. It took them awhile to hack it after it was released, but now that people have a handle on the phone, now that tools are available on the phone for hacking--basic programs like ssh, etc., it will take less than a week for a company with some money, or for that matter, a bunch of nerds with code.google.com, to workaround their stuff. Just wait for it on the ringtones. They'll have a new hack before next monday, and that's not even relevant--iToner, which doesn't cost all that much money, still works, so they haven't broken custom ringtones completely even with 7.4.2. And regular, honest users are going to start getting really, really annoyed with constant updates that do nothing but break hacks they aren't using.

If apple updated iTunes to brick your iPhone, someone would hack iTunes so that it didn't do that--e.g., denying it a network connection to phone home to apple to check out the phone. But that's not even the issue--that kind of crap is just BOLLOCKS to regular users who aren't hacking, or--users who are hacking (like me) but don't have their phones unlocked or anything... how will they tell the difference?