[Hands0n]

I suppose this was inevitable. In Turkey, for instance, the mobile operators there irrevocably bar any mobile handset equipped with a Turkish SIM that has a foreign IMEI. Thus rendering the grey import market obsolete. For Apple to do this is likely to be at the behest of O2 and the other European mobile operators rather than anything it gets up to.

I wonder how that lad who paid £1,200 for one a couple of weeks ago will feel when he next connects his iPhone to his computer.



An Apple software update is disabling iPhones that have been unlocked by owners who wanted to choose which mobile network to use.

Earlier this week Apple said a planned update would leave the device "permanently inoperable".

Thousands of iPhone owners hacked their expensive gadget in order to unlock it for use with other mobile carriers and to run a host of unsupported programs.

There are also reports of the update causing issues with unaltered iPhones.

On Monday Apple issued a statement in which it said many of the unauthorised iPhone unlocking programs caused "irreparable damage" to the device's software.

The company said this would "likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed".

That warning has now proved correct as many owners are reporting their phones no longer work following installation of the update.

Apple requires iPhone owners to take out a lengthy contract with AT&T in the United States but there are a number of programs on the net that unlock the device for use with other networks.

Some owners are reporting on technology blogs and Apple's own forums that the update is deleting contacts information, as well as photos and music, on iPhones that have not been modified in any way.

Article Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7017660.stm

[bsrjl1]

You don't have to update to the new firmware. And if you start chuffing around at a really low level, then you expect it to go pop when there's an update. At least Apple had the decency to warn customers before they bricked 'em.

[Ben]

Mhm, the iPhone did crack just a little too easily. I'm not sure how I feel about the locking issue until I see how it's handled in the UK.

[Hands0n]

The thing is, most who have had their iPhone unlocked will likely be unaware of the problem until the Apple update happens. By then it is all too late. They've now got a $499 paperweight, and an entirely unsympathetic Apple.

Personally, I think that this is all a bit too Draconian and likely to cause illwill. My way of handling this would be to let the update lock up the handset but give the Customer one chance of redeeming themselves by returning the iPhone for a no-charge restore-to-factory-condition. It will, after all, be nothing more than a firmware re-load by Apple technicians. Then return the fully restored and working handset to the Customer with a frank letter telling them what happened, why and what the consequences of a repeat unlocking/update will be.

At least that way Apple would be seen to be doing all that it possibly and reasonably can to fairly stamp out the iPhone unlocking market.

The IMEI of the handset could be tracked to ensure that the Customer does not try that particular stunt again.

Am I being far too reasonable? I don't think so. But I am not convinced that Apple in general and the iPhone in particular can withstand the likely illwill brought about by their actions with such an expensive piece of equipment tied into an equally expensive network contract. They, and the mobile network operator, must at least offer a chance of an amnesty.

I forecast a bad show for Apple and the networks if they follow this through relentlessly.

[3g-g]

Surely there must come a point when Apple think, why don't we just sell this SIM free? There doesn't seem to be any subsidy anyway with the handset on the networks as it is... so just sell it! Or, are Apple being really greedy wanting all that income from the networks? When I think of it like that it makes me think they're pretty precarious in terms of handset manufacturers, it would only take all the networks to get together and decide not to sell the iPhone and Apple would be up that smelly creek without some sort of paddle.

At the end of the day it takes the networks existence to make the iPhone work, and I suppose they're both as bad as each other, Apple wanting the cash, networks wanting the handset and kudos, but the operators are infinitely more powerful than Apple in this situation. Get some balls networks!!

[Hands0n]

News is out that the Apple/Orange France deal is not all sewn up. Suggestions that Orange France are not agreeing to the standard Apple contracted revenue sharing. This is, I believe, the thin end of a very, very short wedge. So I make you right, and perhaps Orange France has larger kahoonas than O2 (UK) and T-Mobile (Germany).

Apple, with the iPhone, have a truly unique and innovative HCI (or UI in oldspeak). But that is pretty much it. The handset, as a phone, is completely uninspiring with its 2.5G limitation. Built for the American market the iPhone is unlikely to do as well here other than sell to the Apple fanboys. The fact that O2 are backing it is a sure precursor to the iPhone's sales to be entirely average.

Is the HCI enough to sell it to the masses? Not if today's visit to the Apple store in Bluewater is anything to go by. There, the iPod Touch is out on display - no stock until tomorrow - and the interest it is gathering is completely on a par with any of the other product there. No signs of people queuing up to play with the 'Touch, in fact there was greater interest around the Classic and new Nano devices.

So I really have to wonder what the iPhone will be seen to offer Europe. The lack of 3G is not a major omission seeing as you cannot buy music from iTunes Store over the air. Instead, you have to use the WLAN capabilities to browse for and purchase iTunes.

The more the covers are lifted the more average the iPhone handset appears to be.

The difference between the US and European launch is that we have all had several weeks to assess what it is the iPhone is and has to offer. A more considered buying approach means that the almost panic buying that was witnessed in the US is very unlikely to occur here.

[3g-g]

News is out that the Apple/Orange France deal is not all sewn up. Suggestions that Orange France are not agreeing to the standard Apple contracted revenue sharing. This is, I believe, the thin end of a very, very short wedge. So I make you right, and perhaps Orange France has larger kahoonas than O2 (UK) and T-Mobile (Germany).

And in France that really only leaves SFR (Vodafone), and we know how the Vodafone/Apple relationship is already! It'll only take one to stand up to Apple and the rest might take notice... and then the slope becomes rather slippery, in a downwards direction!

[Hands0n]

If Apple does a special deal with Orange France their [Apple's] credibility as a company to do business with will be shot through with holes. I predict that no another network will want to touch it, leaving O2 and T-Mobile looking rather foolish for jumping in quite so quickly and unquestioningly.

It is a tricky one - Apple have to protect their own ground, but yet make inroads into Europe. Apple need the mobile network operators more than the ops need Apple. Inter-op competitiveness made O2 and T-Mobile jump in with the revenue-sharing.

The cracks are beginning to show and not a single handset has been sold.

Look up! Vultures :D

[miffed]

Or, are Apple being really greedy wanting all that income from the networks?

I reckon there is your answer - I think the 40% of revenue from each user is very appealing to Apple !

I wonder if iPhones in the UK will be straightforward SIM locked , or will they be locked to "iPhone" sims only ? Seeing as Identical tarrifs without the iPhone are a lot cheaper ?