Apple’s iPhone has been officially unlocked by a 17 year-old from New Jersey, proving that with free will and dedication, anything can be accomplished.George Hotz was able to use the device with T-Mobile, a competitor to the iPhone’s exclusive operator, AT&T, allowing users to use the device anywhere in the world. According to the young hacker, the unlocking process takes some two hours and requires hardware modifications and software knowledge. And even though he and his collaborators, some of whom live in other countries, were able to simplify the unlocking process, it took nearly 500 hours of work to successfully hack the iPhone. Although in his opinion: “I think it was worth it.”
The iPhone had been previously made to work on other networks by a method that requires copying information from the Subscriber Identity Module card, but since the phone was not actually unlocked, each SIM card had to be programed to work with a specific phone and additional equipment was needed. Both this method and George Hotz method manage to leave most of the iPhone’s functions intact; the only exception is the voice mail feature, that shows them as incoming E-Mails.
Much to everyone’s dislike, experts argue that Apple may be able to make new iPhones tolerant to the hacks, before they are released beyond the US market.
It is incredible and at the same time, refreshing, that the efforts of big corporations to manipulate consumers have been brought down to their knees by teenagers. Day in and day out we read articles that do nothing but prove this; how young hackers have been able to watch high definition movies without the HDCP certified hardware and how these very movies can be found in and downloaded from peer-to-peer networks. And although i do not condone illegal activity, it knocks me off my feet how much can be accomplished, with free will and dedication.
Technorati Tags: Apple’s iPhone, T-Mobile, AT&T, Subscriber Identity Module card
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