Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T and Apple Tightening Policies to Reduce iPhone Unlocking
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
time for change
Hey...just came up with a great new caption for Apple's home page:
iPhone 3G: Mobile Technology for the Sick, the Poor and the Indigent.
Hey...just came up with a great new caption for Apple's home page:
iPhone 3G: Mobile Technology for the Sick, the Poor and the Indigent.
Makes good sense...
well first off, i am very glad that the in-store activation is taking place...
and heres why...
i recently lost my iphone at a theme park, and went through the ranks only to find out that whoever the lucky finder was, can activate it and have service like everyone else... (long story short)
in this new scenario, say your new 3g iphone is stolen, or god forbid you loose it... your chances of getting your phone back increase if you report it in time...
thank you apple for stepping up.
everyone else get off your lazy cracks and activate your phone in the store on july 11th... id hate for anyone to have to wait a sec in a line or anything...
and if you found an iphone at six flags over georgia... give me my freakin phone back you ******!
-MacBook 4gb ram 160 gb HD
-MacBook Pro 2gb ram 100 gb HD
-30gb iPod 5th gen.
-8gb iPod nano
-8gb iPhone (R.I.P.)
well first off, i am very glad that the in-store activation is taking place...
and heres why...
i recently lost my iphone at a theme park, and went through the ranks only to find out that whoever the lucky finder was, can activate it and have service like everyone else... (long story short)
in this new scenario, say your new 3g iphone is stolen, or god forbid you loose it... your chances of getting your phone back increase if you report it in time...
thank you apple for stepping up.
everyone else get off your lazy cracks and activate your phone in the store on july 11th... id hate for anyone to have to wait a sec in a line or anything...
and if you found an iphone at six flags over georgia... give me my freakin phone back you ******!
-MacBook 4gb ram 160 gb HD
-MacBook Pro 2gb ram 100 gb HD
-30gb iPod 5th gen.
-8gb iPod nano
-8gb iPhone (R.I.P.)
I hear multiple people saying what SchneiderMan is saying. It's VERY CONFUSING. AT&T is saying one thing, and Apple is saying another. One party is apparently clueless.
I hope it's not Apple.
It is more like $15 more a month because they dumped the free texts that used to be on the iPhone plan as well...
Already there, I have to say, you do come across as a blindfolded fanboy. Unless of course, your entire post is a joke?
Reality distortion much?
[/quote]The plan involves cellular which is clearly a mob like scheme which will evaporate when the cloud makes cellular irrelevant via technology and competition. Give it a year or three.[/quote]
Excuse me? If that was the case, Japan would have been there three years ago, and Europe would be outphasing cellular as we speak. I think you drem too much.
It may be a novelty where you live (in the US), but it's certainly not here. It's a tool used every day. It's certainly not a novelty here.
Yup. But at least you iPhoners can't be hit with MMS-fees
On the other hand, it's almost necessary to pay the US$99 for "MobileMe", since Apple thought it'd be better if you paid that 99 on a yearly basis instead of allowing you to use your iPhone as a HDD (that is: Disk Mode has been removed).
Ah, yes, 9.99 a piece. What a deal And hows that? Anything about you actually being able to install freeware? No? It has to be through the iTunes App Store? Tie-in much?
I don't care about that many other (american) companies. In this country you can only tie private persons for 6 months. That's it. Oh, and the rip-off cell companies are still making tons of money.
in sotore activation? lol
how do you see that happening?? it will ruin the whole shopping experience..
you buy the iphone, then they will ask you to activate it on site, you will have to open your nice iphone box in the store?!@ what if you dont want to? alot of people will not buy this. it will not happen
how do you see that happening?? it will ruin the whole shopping experience..
you buy the iphone, then they will ask you to activate it on site, you will have to open your nice iphone box in the store?!@ what if you dont want to? alot of people will not buy this. it will not happen
We won't know for sure until July 11th, I don't think..
Even last time, ATT made me tell them what plan I was going to sign up for when I got home and activated through iTunes before they sold me the phone.
As long as they've got an efficient system set up this time around and can get people through relatively quickly, I don't forsee a problem with this setup.
You'll still be able to restore your iPhone like normal, it didn't re-activate your iphone unless you did told it to treat it like a new iPhone. When you restore from a backup that is on your computer from syncing your iphone, it realizes that your phone is already activated with your sim card inside of it and restores your settings.
Apple is not stupid enough to keep people from upgrading their firmware without going by an apple or ATT store. They are the ones in control of the software, not ATT.
Even last time, ATT made me tell them what plan I was going to sign up for when I got home and activated through iTunes before they sold me the phone.
As long as they've got an efficient system set up this time around and can get people through relatively quickly, I don't forsee a problem with this setup.
You'll still be able to restore your iPhone like normal, it didn't re-activate your iphone unless you did told it to treat it like a new iPhone. When you restore from a backup that is on your computer from syncing your iphone, it realizes that your phone is already activated with your sim card inside of it and restores your settings.
Apple is not stupid enough to keep people from upgrading their firmware without going by an apple or ATT store. They are the ones in control of the software, not ATT.
Um, the oil companies are the only ones spending money in the energy sector - plus it's not really up to them since they're not producing the oil, just buying it from OPEC, refining it down (which does cost something btw) and selling the product to you. If Obama gets elected we can start preparing for $8/gal gas... and 70% federal income tax to pay for all of this "innovation" we seem to need. Meanwhile, we're sitting on massive amounts of oil, well enough to hold us over until we can get some new tech going, we just can't get at it due to your liberal gov't.
If hybrid tech was really the answer, wouldn't it be required on all cars and not just optional on a few?
All of this basically means if you want the iPhone, you'll put up with whatever AT&T plan you need for it and 10 minutes extra out of your life to activate in the store.
All based on a few quotes from an AT&T pr flack.
Of course, its America, develop here, out source, pay to ship it back (after put together by communist countries), pay Apple employee's minimum wage with a high turn over (most are all part time, but hey they get great discounts - maybe they can buy a shuffle) and screw the consumer anyway they can.
Capitalism at its best. LOL
I still say 3G will by law, become a NON OPTION, then, since the economy is so crummy, I bet someone develops a hack to get the 3G, then, just like OSX86, we'll see free 3G.
meanwhile - -
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/
http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php
Yeah, and Apple expects it's customers (YOU) to be honest and actually activate the iPhone at home with AT&T service rather than do something against their policy like unlock iPhone to do what you please with it. IMO, you are the one being greedy, the initial price is now cheaper, there's no reason for you to be annoyed unless you had no intention to activate the iPhone under AT&T's service.
Internal AT&T e-mail sent to Retail Store managers (I have bolded some of the important information):
Haha, I agree. Also, I'm being a bit egotistical too:
When a huge global corporation tries to pull stunts like this (and people are even defending the behaviour), it will eventually effect me. Not that they'd be able to do it that badly, but they'll propably still see how they can screw the customers over the most. That I dislike. Especially when I see friends and collegues not doing any research paying for the latest fad or brand that is "in" at the time being.
If noone speaks up, that sort of behaviour will merely become "that's how it is, take it or leave it. There is nothing better out there in the world" which some of the "patriots" seem to have chosen as their mantra.
some people dont have the money every month to run an iphone, $60 minimum.. i use a gophone from att, i dont use the internet only with wi-fi so..
i dont have good credit for a 2 year contract and you can buy the iphone like any other ipod from apple so why not do what you pplease with it?
you still pay alot of money to apple, and if apple really did not want you to unlock your iphone at home then they would have already be locking your iphone the first time you open itunes
Before cell phones we hunted down pay phones. But pay phones aren't so easy to find these days(Superman would be disappointed) because everyone has a cell phone.
You'd call a customer for directions and hope they understood you were driving a truck(good luck with that) and when their directions got you lost you'd have to find a place to park a 70' truck so you could call them again. It is getting harder and harder to park a truck anywhere these days because no one wants them in their town.
Getting the Millenicom aircard was also a response to the crappy AT&T service. I didn't have it until I got frustrated with AT&T and hacked my iPhone. I bought the Millenicom service as a backup.
As I said before, if AT&T's coverage map was accurate I would have never bought an iPhone to begin with. I've had T-Mobile for years and never had a coverage problem with them, especially one that lasted for over 1000 miles.
I find it ridiculous that you imply that people are being dishonest by not activating their hardware they paid good money for on an overpriced service.
Again, how is it dishonest to not activate a phone on AT&T's service or to unlock the phone for that matter? It isn't illegal to unlock phones in the US and at least with the 1st gen iPhone it could be done before entering into any explicit (ie not implicit) agreement with Apple or AT&T. I guess you could say that altering the radio firmware was a violation of a software patent or some sort of trademark but then again since hardware is generally viewed as yours to do with as you please once you buy it, it could be viewed as an extension of fair use as well.
Also, Apple/AT&T are selling year old hardware for the same price as it was a year ago (if you take into account the rate hike). At this point IMO, one would be better off getting a Nokia N95 and 90% of the functionality and a few better features without having to deal with the silly games.
i dont believe this at all. steve said the iphone will be affordable for all. now how will this fit in??
Hmmm, I'm less than a year into my current AT&T deal and I'm not a new customer.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Because they can. Economics, demand, et-cetera. Take for example, pre iPhone, how much smart phones were - now make it work on any network and there is competition, ala the land line phone companies. Since ATT is the only one, they can do what they want.
I don't know about you, but I have seen lots of iPhone problems and waiting for a genius had better be gone, as well as insurance after 6 months.
I think the answer I was looking for was: a map
Also, not a jab, but my AT&T service was non-existent driving through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas on my Blackjack. Took it to an AT&T store and the girl suggested I get a GoPhone from Wal-Mart and swap in my existing SIM. Did that and everything was great, reversed the process when I arrived in Miami and all is well.
Maybe it's not the AT&T service being spotty, maybe it's just the (i)phone.
They are types of business accounts. IRU = Individual Responsibility User (Employee pays for his wireless service while still receiving the discounts offered through the corporation). CRU = Corporate Responsibility User (Wireless service is paid for by the corporation).
My issue with the iPhone in general is that while I'm more than willing to pay $30 a month for data services through AT&T, I have ZERO interest in the $40 MINIMUM for a voice plan. Basically, I don't talk much on my cell phone. I have AT&T pre-pay and I buy 1000 minutes a year for $100. Last year, I used $30 of that $100 total and then rolled it over again this year for another $100 and now have 1700 minutes on it. In short, I don't use my cell phone much as a phone. My current phone is a 3G model I got off someone that no longer needed that phone. I simply swapped my SIM chip from my 'freebie' pre-pay phone to this one. It now uses pre-pay just fine. I get use of the camera, voice recorder capabilities, etc. and still only have to pay an average of $8 a month for cell phone capability (not even counting rollover).
I DO, however, have a STRONG interest in 3G internet use of an iPhone. I currently own a 16GB iPod Touch and I use it to control my whole house audio system and it's also handy to take over 1000 songs on the road with me, etc. It has the iPhone's cool Internet features, but it needs WiFi. Again, this is an issue because free WiFi is hard to come by and trying to negotiate paying for WiFi everywhere you go is a nightmare. Thus, I conclude that 3G service would be handy and worth $30 a month. It's the $40 a month in voice minutes I will *NEVER* use that bugs me. If could get pre-pay voice on it with full blown data, I'd buy one in a heart-beat.
But you just no AT&T would NEVER EVER go for that. They want to suck you dry. People who think the new pricing is a deal ought to think twice after you do the math. AT&T is making MORE from the new iPhone and also no longer has to share profits. In short, Apple got pwned! But Apple hopes to recoup their losses by sucking up over 30% of every software author's take on applications so they want more users now than anything else so they can leech off all those authors. Plus since this new deal effectively eliminates unlockers (or at least costs them a LOT more than listed prices of this article), that means all those people that PLANNED on hacking their iPhones to use FREE loadable applications or ones from authors that have no intention of giving Mafia Jobs 33% of their take and sell directly to hackers only are now limited only to prior unlocked users, thus effectively killing anyone's plans to circumvent Apple (or at least if they do, they'll still have to keep an AT&T plan for 2 years or get penalized big time). This will likely bring on lawsuits by SOMEONE that will claim Apple has no right to monopolize iPhone app sales for the platform (again, I reiterate 30+% is akin to Mafia 'protection' money; it's HUGE). And in tha regard, I would APPLAUD anyone that has the gumption to take Apple to court. They deserve to lose (I can hear the flood of pointless fan-boy attacks already).
So, in the end, AT&T will not get a data plan user (i.e. my $30 a month) and Apple will only get whatever I buy for my existing iPod Touch instead of double that because anyone who thinks $40 a month is no big deal (ok, let's subtract the $8 I wouldn't need anymore) might think twice if they realize that is a total of $32x12, which is $384 a year in WASTED money because I won't USE and don't NEED those minutes). Well, for $384, I could almost get another 16GB iPod Touch (unsubsidized) EACH YEAR all for the price of paying for voice minute I don't need or plan to use.
What I need is a 3G data-only iPhone. I simply want to be able to use the Internet wherever I go.