Tinman wrote:
> SMS wrote:
>> Tinman wrote:
>>
>>> Oh yea, and the hacking community just scored big over the last few
>>> weeks. Since firmware 1.1.2 was released back in October there had
>>> been no easy way to unlock the iPhone. Now there is, with ZiPhone,
>>> Geohot's tool (almost anyone can do it). With estimates of unlocked
>>> iPhones at 25% of all iPhones sold--and keep in mind it wasn't
>>> unlocked for the first two months of its existence--this will no
>>> doubt cause the unlockers to start buying in droves in case another
>>> update closes the holes used to get in. Well, if they can: Apple
>>> could sell more if they weren't so heavy-handed about it (limiting
>>> purchases, tracking credit cards to enforce, etc.).
>> Well they've lightened up on that a little, now allowing more units
>> per credit card.
>>
>> I guess Apple feels that selling less total units, but more AT&T
>> activated units, is financially more desirable.
>
> Apparently so, or perhaps their carrier agreements demand some sort of
> action on their part.

All they had to do was tell AT&T that they couldn't do anything to stop
the unlocking.
>
> But I don't think the logic means more people will go with AT&T, in
> meaningful numbers. Sure there are unlockers in the USA who chose to go with
> T-Mobile. But that doesn't seem to be a lot, and they might not have bought
> an iPhone at all if they had to go with AT&T (locked into a contract, better
> native T-Mobile coverage in their home area, etc.).

Ironically AT&T probably cares less than Apple about the unlocking. It's
not like that the people that are unlocking the iPhones and activating
them on T-Mobile would have become $60/month AT&T customers if the
iPhone was impossible to unlock.

> By far most of the
> people I know with unlocked iPhones are in other countries. There are now
> thriving iPhone communities in most every country where it can be used, but
> without a sanctioned carrier (Taiwan, Vietnam, Russia, China, Singapore--you
> name it).

I see a lot of it in the U.S. too. I can't extrapolate the three people
I know personally that have unlocked the iPhone and are using it
T-Mobile prepaid or SpeakOut prepaid, but I suspect the number is in the
tens of thousands at least.