Letters to the Editor
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Wisftul echos of Steve's youth
Does anyone else see the karmic irony in this, given that the youthful Steve Jobs, along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was a phone phreaker?
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Heroes
Coming up next week on Machinist: The heroes who make crystal meth in their basements.
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WOW
Wow, one faceless corporation teaming up with another faceless corporation!
Stop the presses!
Either don't buy the iphone (life will go on) or buy it and get AT&T.
After all, it's what Steve Jobs would want you to do; and isn't that what really matters?
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Interesting
Of course it's going to get hacked. All smartphones get hacked. It's the way of things.
This should stop all the bullshit about Apple products being inherently more secure than those from other companies. Once Jobs pulled an Ellison and made his company a target it turns out that Apple stuff is just as full of compromises and shortcuts as everyone else's, and just as vulnerable to a sustained attack, with the noteworthy exception of the OpenBSD Project.
Maybe now that future exclusive deals with providers in Asia and Europe are likely to be a lot less lucrative, Apple will have the incentive to invest in real security instead of marketing security (a la Oracle), and we will all be better off.
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Why Should Apple care?
These hackers do Apple a great service - they detail all the secutity weaknesses of the phone as well as bugs and other issues - and they do it for free. I'm sure there are Apple spies on all the IRC channels, web sites, email lists and Usenet groups just scooping up the info - perhaps seeding these guys with tidbits of information.
The one who gets hurt is AT&T...
and who cares about those pricks?
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Illegitimate Use?
What would be the legal basis for AT&T restricting what I can do with a piece of hardware I own? I don't think a shrinkwrap seal with some legal boilerplate constitutes a binding contract, and I doubt the industry would like to see this issue actually litigated. At most my warantee would be voided by HW or SW tinkering. I can easily imagine Apple hoping for or surreptitiously helping with the hackers success, since it would potentially increase their sales dramatically, while only hurting the bottom line of the NSA-stooges at AT&T. Of course US hackers could probably be persecuted under the absurd DMCA.
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This won't last
As you eluded to in your article, Apple and AT&T will not allow this to continue and they have a relatively easy way to do it. The iPhone's software is a classic version 1.0 release which will require frequent updates. Simply by making certain checks during the update process, Apple can link updates to running an untampered OS on AT&T's network.
Using hacked copies of the OS will be limited to a hundful of diehards who will not be able to receive regular updates.
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Why AT&T?
Why do people keep asking why Apple signed the deal with the devil, AT&T? Here's Apple's point of view:
* Go it alone and attempt to start your own phone network: Too risky
* Verizon: Excellent network, but Verizon is going to want a hand in designing the phone and saying what it can do, what it can't do, how much it should be, etc. Verizon certainly doesn't want a phone that undercuts their $3 per song download business. Rumors have it that Apple approached Verizon first, but Verizon turned Apple down due to Apple's terms.
* Sprint: They're in even worse shape than AT&T.
* T-Mobile: Has a good solid network and are pretty liberal about what their phones can and can't do, but only where there actually is T-Mobile service. T-Mobile has the smallest network around, and their data network may be even slower than AT&T's.
* AT&T: Largest phone company in America, but need a boost in order to be competitive. AT&T will let Apple do whatever they want with the iPhone -- no questions asked. Heck, they didn't even know what the phone would look like until January.
So, it is a marriage of convenience, Apple found a partner that would give them almost complete freedom and AT&T found a way to attract new customers.
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Hyperstitious
For the same reason XBox Live rabidly goes after chip modders. It's their network, they can restrict it or open as they wish.
Now given that Palm is essentially dead and there will be no more Palm OS. Given that Symbian is a niche's niche and will never grow beyond its current base. Given that Pocket/PC-Mobile Windows is a weak underfunded typically crash effort from Redmond, it may be a safe bet that the underlying code for iPhone may wind up being a rather strong player in the smart phone sector. As I've said before, few other major players have as much experience and as much concern with developing software, firmware and hardware at the same time to work in concert as does Apple. This alone will give them a leg up against Microsoft and others who will first have to strong arm hardware vendors and then have to work with them to get code and hardware to work together while digesting Redmond's ever cannibalistic business model that includes force feeding future 'standards' down on business partners. How long before we hear of Redmond's new 'standard' for .Net Framework for Phones? As if that will work out?
Who knows maybe Redmond will punt like it always does and buy a phone company and a cell phone manufacturer.
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The flip side
I can't believe I'm the first one to point this out, but here it is: hacking the iPhone to make it work with other cell carriers, if that can actually be done, eliminates a couple of the phone's most interesting features. Random-access voicemail, for example, which requires substantial setup on the provider's side. And while you might be able to unlock the iPhone for calls on other networks, what are the chances of unlocking it for data use on those networks?
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Very Revealing
It’s weird.
Consumers are demanding – begging! – for an iPhone that can run across all networks and that can have enhanced internet capability.
The hackers are proving that the very device these people already own CAN do what they want.
So who is denying the consumers what they want?
I don’t really believe its Apple. I believe its ATT. Steve Jobs got in bed with the Mafia and either didn’t know it or doesn’t care. Personally I’d like to think he’s just naïve about what the wireless carriers are like. While Steve is off dreaming about how to make consumers happy – ATT and the wireless mafia are breaking people’s legs with baseball bats and re-enacting scenes from the Sopranos. Think Enron only not as subtle.
Again – Steve, obviously, could have created an iPhone that could run on any network, but would the networks have allowed him to do that? Ah! Key question. I think the answer is no. Obviously, as the hackers are proving, the iPhone CAN run full internet with streaming audio and various other enhancements. So why would Steve Jobs intentionally design the device so that it can’t do these things? Did Steve just “forget” about that part of the internet? Unlikely. The most likely explanation goes back to Steve being involved with the ATT Mafia and them basically telling him that such functionality won’t be allowed. Or maybe it was the Federal agency that issued his license? Who knows.
I believe that Steve Jobs may have agreed to all this because he knew the hackers would “fix” his iPhone. ATT and probably even the government may have told him he can’t do this or that – but he built the device anyway knowing that his followers would free it up for him.
If there is any doubt that ATT sucks, well, all doubt was erased when they issued that whiney statement, “Anyone who buys an iPhone must worship us and us alone. We are a jealous God and our wrath is awful!”
Please. Signing a contract with ATT is like marrying an abusive alcoholic. You just have to expect to wake up with black eyes on a regular basis. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. Who cares what the consumers want – ATT wants money! Lots of it! Right now! Or else!