[andymckay2001]

This is the one question I would love to put to O2 on buying an iPhone.
(Already have an unlocked one) so therefore hypothetical.

' I have loads of money, I wish to buy an iPhone for £269 and give you £630 to pay off my 18 month contract (18x£35).
I would now like to unlock my phone to use on XXXX network, could you please give me the unlock code.'

Now. do they have some sort of magical way to unlock the phone and make it completely safe from any further updates or would it lock itself again after you update it.

This is where it becomes a legal minefield for Apple, due to the fact that I have now covered all my bases with regard to me completely owning the phone.

What would they do!!!!!

[Jonesybones]

Originally Posted by andymckay2001

This is the one question I would love to put to O2 on buying an iPhone.
(Already have an unlocked one) so therefore hypothetical.

' I have loads of money, I wish to buy an iPhone for £269 and give you £630 to pay off my 18 month contract (18x£35).
I would now like to unlock my phone to use on XXXX network, could you please give me the unlock code.'

Now. do they have some sort of magical way to unlock the phone and make it completely safe from any further updates or would it lock itself again after you update it.

This is where it becomes a legal minefield for Apple, due to the fact that I have now covered all my bases with regard to me completely owning the phone.

What would they do!!!!!

Legally, you can unlock the phone without any problems whatsoever. When you buy an iPhone, you own it outright and can do whatever you want to it. The problem with the phone as i understand it is that it's not a simple case of just typing in some code to unlock it - it has to physically be hacked (the actual software on the phone has to be completely changed) in order to unlock it. Because the software is changed, any updates for the phone will not work in conjunction with what you may have on your phone (rectifying this is probably reinstalling an updated version of whatever hacked software you are using after every update).
I may be wrong on this though...

[andymckay2001]

Exactly my point.

The main part being, when you get firmware upgrades for Nokia's etc they dont do anything re locking any part of the phone.

What could O2/Apple do, to make sure that after, I legitimately unlock the iPhone due to having no ties left with either of them, I would not be stuck with a brick after the next iPhone firmware update.
If there is no way for them to do this I think they could be in a very sticky legal situation in 18 months time.

[ma1234]

Originally Posted by andymckay2001

Exactly my point.

The main part being, when you get firmware upgrades for Nokia's etc they dont do anything re locking any part of the phone.

What could O2/Apple do, to make sure that after, I legitimately unlock the iPhone due to having no ties left with either of them, I would not be stuck with a brick after the next iPhone firmware update.
If there is no way for them to do this I think they could be in a very sticky legal situation in 18 months time.

They would probably unlock it in a similar or the same way iphonesimfree unlocking works ie not affected by a software upgrade, they only have to approve the activation then.

[andymckay2001]

Originally Posted by ma1234

They would probably unlock it in a similar or the same way iphonesimfree unlocking works ie not affected by a software upgrade, they only have to approve the activation then.

Now that's an interesting point. When some of the iPhone dev team were looking at the original unlocking, they looked at reverse engineering the IPSF unlock. Now.. according to Giz the IPSF unlock (when you have unbricked your iPhone by reverting back to 1.0.2 from 1.1.1) will work after re-activating using whichever method (Ibrickr or independance).

So, how long until this becomes free again.

But the point is you are having to drop down a firmware to be able to re-unlock your phone from brick status, which in turn erases all your apps.
I dont think Apple would have a leg to stand on if they did that to a fully paid up iPhone.

[ma1234]

3rd party apps. as far as Apple are concened are a non issue, they are under no obligation to make them compatible. I have up dated the firmware on Nokias, changed ROMs on windows Mobile devices and every time it wipes them clean making me reinstall as required adn forcing writers to make their products compatible, I hope this continues with the iphone.
The point is the iphonesimfree unlocking maintains the unlock for 1.1.1 it is not forcing a downgrade to unlock, this may remain true for all future releases (time will tell) at the moment it is just the activation which doesn't work that is forcing users to downgrade the firmware.