Aug 25, 2007
I just saw him on CNN, and I can't very well applaud through the screen, so I wanted to do it here:
Bravo for unlocking iPhone!
What does this mean?
The iPhone from Apple comes "locked" when purchased - meaning, it can only work with an AT&T sim card - you know, the card on which you have phone numbers from the phone you're currently using.
So, what's someone to do who buys an iPhone, but is currently using a phone with a sim from a different carrier? In George Hotz's case, that carrier was T-Mobile.
So, the 17-year old took apart his iPhone, and after two months of tinkering and analyzing and soldering, he got his iPhone to work with his T-Mobile sim.
Which is the way it should have been, all along.
Apple and AT&T may not like it, but what George Hotz did is perfectly legal - owners of cell phones have the right to put in whatever sim card they choose. Apple may have locked the iPhone, but George Hotz, having purchased the iPhone, had every right to unlock it, if he could.
Locks are not way to go in the digital age...