3G iPhone Locked Down by Apple?
Well looks like the cat and mouse game is on again. After all the happy days of multiple unlocking solutions coming out of every corner of the world, now we’re are faced with the biggest hurdle yet.
Apple and AT&T (and obviously other Authorized Resellers and Carriers around the world) have stated that you will be required to activate your 3G iPhone right then and there on the spot and submit to a 2 year contract - yikes.
Apparently there will be NO online activation via iTunes anymore to circumvent the efforts by unlockers worldwide. There are also rumors that the 3G iPhone will not be sold via Apple’s Online Store anytime soon either to give carriers a chance to reap the rewards and get customers signed up on some pretty expensive 2+ year contracts.
We should have all seen this coming, with tools like PWNED that literally let you customize and unlock virtually every aspect of the old model iPhone, we all knew Apple would have struck back hard. They are proposing any eliminate the chance of someone getting an iPhone that has not been activated. Making the re-seller market disappear as there would be no more bulk buying, unless the 3G iPhones just happed to fall off the back of a truck or something, if you know what I mean.
Now I am sure that some lucky buggers may get their hands on a 3G iPhone that has not been activated, and knowing the Dev Team, it will be pretty soon (if not already). But what about the rest of us plebs that don’t have the strings to pull to get one? (because I am sure I will not be getting one without a contract from iLounge) But what if it is a gift for someone else, are we supposed to sign them up there and then? Are we supposed to sign up for contracts that we then cancel to try and activate/jailbreak/unlock it with some sort of third party tool by the Dev Team or some other source? Once you manage to unlock the 3G iPhone that’s going to be running firmware 2.0, how will it work with the AppStore and iTunes seeing that it is unlocked?
If you were to buy it and then cancel the contract it would be somthing like this:
Get the 3G iPhone for $199 with 2 year contract. After 30 Days cancel the service and pay ETF.
Your cost $199 + $175 (ETF) + $35 (Activation) + $70 (First month Service) + Tax $15 = $494
And then you dont even know if the thing can be jailbreaked, activated to work with iTunes or the AppStore, and most importantly, if it can be unlocked.
I am sure Apple has thought of all of this and it checks for certain signatures and certificates on the legitimately activated 3G iPhone (or even older 2G iPhone running firmware 2.0) before allowing you to download and or purchase content from the AppStore. (I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to make it mandatory to have a MobileMe.com account to be able to purchase Apps).
I think in the wake of all this excitement of the 3G iPhone and firmware 2.0, users will quickly see that we (unlocked iPhone users) will need to watch what happens carefully over the next few weeks. Certainly the leaked firmware 2.0 (final version - not the betas) will be at least jailbreaked and activated, but can they unlock the new baseband it in time for the June 11th distribution day from Apple? I, and allot of other iPhone users out there really hope so. Please donate to the Dev’s if you plan on using an unlocked iPhone so they can continue to trash iPhone in the pursuit of an unlock for all of us.
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