08-28-2007, 10:09 PM | #16 | |
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08-29-2007, 05:51 AM | #17 |
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There are some who say this unlock will only "harm" AT&T because now people are not forced to go with their murderous year plans. I say it will also "harm" Apple because in the future, it will be much harder for Jobs to work out special lucrative deals for Apple -- with telecos knowing that hackers will always find a way to circumvent the lock.
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09-01-2007, 01:29 PM | #18 | |
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The thing I've never understood is how the 'network lock' concept is legal. It smacks of a monopoly to me. I mean, I can understand being locked into a service contract to subsidize the cost of your phone, but after the initial contract period is up and your hardware is paid for, how can they possibly say that you don't have any other choice but the single provider? Limiting third party access definitely doesn't fly in the computer world, how does it manage in the phone world? |
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09-01-2007, 02:14 PM | #19 | |
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As to being locked to a specific network... I think it totally sucks. I know many times while I was quaintly happy with my current provider, they had hardly a good selection of decent mobile phones that met my requirements. Should I have to suck it up and take a crappy plan with another network simply because I want to use the technology of one of the phones that meets my needs? I don't think so. The phone company is selling their service, not the devices, so the phones should be available in their various forms; i.e., CDMA, GPRS, GMS, etc., on various networks, why bother with limiting themselves to one vendor? Apple should have made a deal with all the vendors to get the greater mass appeal. While I can understand that they probably signed some lucrative deal with whomever provides their services, they pissed a lot of people off who may have paid what they were asking for the phones but won't now due to not wanting to switch providers. Here's the second issue, I had a SmartPhone that I used religiously before leaving the states. Turns out, if the SIM card gets updated to indicate that it's no longer in service the phone won't friggin work any more. This would have really sucked, since I used the PDA for more than simply a phone, fortunately I was able to use the GoPhone cards in it, so it was still usable for what I needed; i.e., GPS & PDA functions. What's going to happen to the iPhone when the contract is up? Will you not be able to use it as a PIM anymore, or what about as a PMP? Edit: Just checked out the video on Engadget, too cool! I've been avoiding checking out any real info on the iPhone since it's not available here. Sure would be nice if I could get one of those babies to work over here. I can't believe how slim it looked, and the touch-screen... (drool). These things will be free by the time I move back to the states, hopefully we'll be seeing 'em here in the next 6 months or so (I won't hold my breath). Last edited by Azayzel; 09-01-2007 at 03:23 PM. Reason: Sorry, needed to add more... |
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09-02-2007, 10:17 AM | #20 | |
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As a matter of interest, had the iPhone been, say, 50% more expensive, but "open", would you still have been willing to buy one? |
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09-04-2007, 12:08 PM | #21 |
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I'd only consider it a subsidy if some of the hardware cost is covered by part of the monthly service fees. In this case, I believe the buyer is paying the entire hardware cost up-front. If Apple is, indeed (and I'm not contesting the claim, I have no idea if it's so), getting a monthly kick-back from AT&T, but it's not defraying the cost of the actual hardware, I'd call that something other than a subsidy. A stipend for temporary exclusive rights to sell the thing, maybe.
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09-04-2007, 11:26 PM | #22 |
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I'd call it a bribe or a payoff if Apple is indeed getting paid for giving AT&T exclusive rights.
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09-04-2007, 11:29 PM | #23 |
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They'd probably prefer a term like "incentive," but essentially, yes, that's right.
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09-05-2007, 05:18 AM | #24 | |
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Heheh, in regards to paying 50% more for an unlocked phone... I'm unwilling to pay the $500 (4GB model) or $600 (8GB model) for a regular version, let alone paying a premium over that for what amounts to a $180 iPod video with a phone attached; that's just crazy talk. I recently picked up a used 30GB iPod Video for $120, not that I'm poor... more like rational when it comes to spending my gadget funds. I'm curious as to why they limited the iPhones so much on internal memory? Ahh well. |
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09-05-2007, 05:22 AM | #25 | |
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09-15-2007, 01:11 PM | #26 |
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This just in from Engadget... the software to unlock the iPhone has just been updated and released into the wild for FREE! Here's the article link Lots of info on this!
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