Anticipation of iPhone 2.0 at Apple WWDC tomorrow has a lot crazy rumors floating around.
One of the more interesting rumors is that Apple is going to allow carriers to subsidize the iPhone the same way they subsidize all sorts of other phones, in exchange for signing up for a 2 year contract. If they do, I expect iPhone sales to go crazy, but what’s even more interesting is the possibility that we’ll be able to buy an unsubsidized phone without it being locked to a carrier.
The impact on US users would be pretty minimal right now because T-mobile is the only other national carrier with an iPhone compatible GSM network. What’s more, T-mobile has done very little to upgrade their network to 3G, which supports faster download speeds and is one of the major features people expect from the next iPhone. Still, it would be nice to have a choice.
It’s a more significant issue for US users who travel internationally, since it will let them use carriers in the countries they visit directly, rather than having to go through AT&T who marks-up the same service. It’s also a big deal for people who live outside the US. One carrier already offers the iPhone unlocked, but the price is crazy, 2x the price with a contract, and something close to $1000 US, if I remember right.
We’ll have to see, because it’s very likely that the next iPhone is going to be harder to hack and unlock than the last version.
It’s been a while since we’ve posted, but I’m thrilled that the iPhone App Store is going to be open for business soon. They’ll be announcing details at the WWDC tomorrow. Chances are good that the store will be open for business soon after the announcement.
The App Store unlocks the iPhones potential by officially supporting 3rd party applications. There are already some big publishers lining up to release official iPhone apps, including game maker EA, but I’m most excited to see what novel applications small teams of programmers come up with.
Very interesting. I can pair my iPhone running the new 1.1.4 firmware with my Mac over Bluetooth, but it can’t find any services. I don’t think this worked with earlier firmware. I also tried iSync and BluePhoneElite and they threw the same message. I really hope this means that wireless sync is coming soon. Tethering would be nice too.
Has anyone else discovered any new Bluetooth secrets
As predicted, there was a jailbreak released today for iPhones running the new 1.1.3 firmware. The jailbreak allows the installation of unofficial apps on the iPhone. It does not unlock the phone so it can be used with carriers other than AT&T, but with any luck, an unlock for 1.1.3 will be coming soon now.
Windows and Mac versions are available. It requires an iPhone running 1.1.2 or earlier firmware. If you are already running the 1.1.3 firmware, you’ll have to downgrade.
iPhone Atlas is reporting that a jailbreak to allow the recently released iPhone 1.1.3 firmware to run unofficial apps could be released soon.
Hackers have apparently identified three different techniques. One technique requires a hardware modification, limiting it’s utility. The current plan is to keep one of the software techniques secret until after Apple releases the official iPhone SDK in the hope that Apple won’t have a chance to close it.
We’ll have to see how this all turns out. With any luck, an unlock will come along soon too so that people using unlocked iPhones on T-mobile, or an international carrier, can take advantage of the firmware update (I wonder if the Google maps cell tower triangulation will work).
