According to an article in The Wall Street Journal [subscription required], hackers have figured out how to bypass a number of restrictions put on the iPhone by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and AT&T (NYSE: T). Perhaps the most compelling work centers on activating key features of the phone without an AT&T service contract.
Current by-passes of restriction have focused on getting the WiFi features to work without AT&T activation. But, the next target would be to get the phone to work on cellular networks other than AT&T's. Another significant hack in the works is one that would allow the phone to work as a wireless VoIP phone that could make unlimited calls while connected to a WiFi network.
While the workarounds may not catch on in the US, they could threaten Apple's deals to get providers in Europe and Asia to pay huge sums for exclusive rights to the phones. If the handset can be adapted to run on any cellular network, the value of these agreements will be significantly undermined.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-06-2007 @ 8:55AM
Mike said...
Must be driving you crazy that apple is exploding. Bad news after bad news on your blogs Your short position must be killing you!
7-06-2007 @ 10:19AM
August said...
"Hackers start to take down the iPhone." Oh really? This kind of absurd sensationalism is what devalues any believability in blogs and continues the long slow transformation of once respectable NEWSpapers, into National Enquirer wannabes. Couldn't you or the WSJ article you took it from have said... "Hackers, IN GENERAL, threaten American Business." Wouldn't that have been more truthful than, "Hackers start to take down the iPhone"? Let's be clear... so, one hacker in the world cracks an Apple product feature, the utilization of which instantly becomes a criminal offense, so this act "TAKES DOWN THE IPHONE?" I don't think so.
You're getting paid for now, all of you, but there will come a time when the public will tire of Paris Hilton and the onslaught of "pile on to the lipstick color of the moment," media frenzy. When that happens, many of you "pay per click," wordmongers will be back writing obits and garden club news as your just reward for not using your time in the spotlight more substantively.
Respectfully,
August
7-09-2007 @ 10:08AM
george scandalis said...
Doug,
You're kidding right?
Even you can recognize that someone copying a 12.00 CD at home or downloading a 20.00 video is completely different from someone BUYING a 600.00 device and hacking it to save what?
I would guess that most responsible adults do steal their media content, kids do.
And that most kids do not buy 600.00 cellphones.
No matter what provider you connect to you still have to pay them and I'm sure you already know this but I'll say it anyway, there are no telecom providers offering visual voicemail services along with they breadth of data services for what AT&T is charging.
In the light of some analysis I believe that your analogy is not that relevant.
Best regards.
9-07-2007 @ 7:53PM
douglas mcintyre said...
Right, Just like it worked for the music industry with CDs and the movie industry with DVD DRM.
9-07-2007 @ 8:10PM
george scandalis said...
Mr McIntyre
Your column is turning into a sort of news repeater service where you read an article in another publication and basically repeat it with no insight to the content.
Here's what you're missing here.
Even if the phone is hacked, do you think that Joe Lunchbox and Suzy Soccermom will buy a hacked version and connect to a competing service?
Maybe they'll download the hack, load it on a PC and connect to the iPhone to change some of the code so it will function as a non-phone.
Hardly.
Also, is it possible that Apple might respond with new firmware?
Hello? Are you writing this down?
Apple is a moving target for these hacker types and so far there are no incidences where there have been any viable ramifications caused by hackers on Apple products.
Apple has nothing but extraordinary products that capture the imaginations of most who see them who sometimes even buy them, like 20+ billion dollars worth.
And then there's the others who look for the sky to fall in and report it like that with headlines that sensationalize nothing and they back it up with nothing and eventually it leads to nothing, over and over again.
You would think they would learn that by now.