Jobs Bows to Cingular
Glenn Lurie, Cingular’s president of national distribution told journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2007) today that Apple “bent a lot” to get the iPhone service contract with Cingular.
[sorry for the nonsensical opening sentence earlier… it’s now fixed]
Recent news suggests Apple caved to Cingular requests that
- the phone be locked
- 2-year service contract commitment
- Cingular name appears on the screen
This would certainly qualify as a rare example of Apple bending to a partner’s wishes.
But Can ‘Bad Guys’ Unlock It?
While “there are bad guys out there that unlock phones,” Lurie said, Apple and Cingular are taking unspecified steps to make the phone more difficult to unlock and use on other GSM carriers in the US.
While I can find no “I am very confident I will be able to unlock an iPhone” threads on the Web, it’s undoubtedly going to happen shortly after they arrive in June. But: you’ll still have to pay a penalty to Cingular for breaking the 2-year contract, and you’ll have to get into the phone to change the simm card, which may void the warranty. I base this assumption on the fact that the iPhone battery is not user replaceable.
January 13th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Itis not a problm. Buy a Euro versionon eBay. No Cingular penalty…
January 13th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Mmm, interesting.
I wonder if/what steps will be taken by Apple/Cingular to stop this. If it’s that easy to circumvent Cingular’s 2-year contract, this method will probably be very popular.