Unlocking Apple's secrets

gzlaser

from 21st century

AMERICAN telephone service company AT&T has paid millions of dollars to be the only US provider of Apple's new device, the iPhone. But, it took 17-year-old George Hotz just two months of work to damage this investment.

iPhone is a combination of an iPod, a tablet PC and a mobile phone. The New Jersey teenager recently published detailed instructions online about how to unlock an iPhone with some household tools and a set of software.

He told the media that his unlocked iPhone can be used on networks other than AT&T's.

\"This was about opening up the device for everyone,\" Hotz said in an interview.

His method allows people who don't want AT&T's service or who can't get it, especially overseas, to use the iPhone. So far, the iPhone is sold only in the US.

Hotz isn't alone in this. He's got a Web-based group, which includes one programmer based in Russia.

His method is one of several techniques that have emerged recently to break the technological locks.

Others include a group calling itself iPhoneSimFree, whose solution involves only software changing.

Hotz says the work he did isn't illegal, and that the US digital copyright law allows phones to be unlocked.

So far, neither Apple nor AT&T has commented on the unlocking techniques.

Why hack the iPhone?

On August 24, a member of iPhoneSimFree, who gave his name as Jim, explained this to the New York Times over e-mail:

Q: Why do you want to be able to unlock the iPhone from AT&T?

A: A lot of our staff are foreigners. The iPhone is something that we all wanted and had our hearts set on from the minute it was announced. However, there have been many articles about problems associated with provider-locked phones, such as unreasonable roaming charges, limited contract options as well as forcing people to switch from existing contracts they may have.

Q: How did you work together on this?

A: Working across continents and time zones is always difficult, especially when dealing with individual skills. There were times when we had hardware on one side of the world with coders working on it through the Net on the other side. The Internet helps to facilitate a global virtual workshop. It was difficult, but through persistence and teamwork we managed to achieve a big goal.

Q: Is your solution better than George Hotz' hardware hack?

A: His work was amazing, especially all his well-documented findings. We can also say that it aided our work and we would like to give him credit for that. However, his solution is limited due to its complicated hardware requirements.



AGENCIES


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hack (黑客)破坏，攻击

hardware 硬件

persistence 坚持

roaming charge 漫游费