“Yet more rumors about Apple’s mystery Wednesday update have suggested the US might finally get the option of unlocked iPhones,” Electronista reports.
“A claim Sunday afternoon has the unlocked iPhone 4 appearing at Apple stores in both capacities and colors,” Electronista reports. “The model numbers, MC603, MC604, MC605, and MC606, all line up with the GSM versions sold abroad but without the regional suffixes that normally apply to international unlocked phones, such as B for Britain or C for Canada.”
“The rumor is unconfirmed, although it’s considered ‘certain,'” Electronista reports. “No mention has been made of an unlocked CDMA phone, although the nature of the technology and its limited use outside the US makes it a more difficult prospect.”
Read more in the full article here.
Beside not being in a contract, why would someone buy an unlocked iPhone?
you can use it all over the world just purchasing a cheap pre-paid sim card.
That implies that there will be a way to swap the SIM card out of the iPhone. Has that ever been possible?
——RM
Um, it’s been possible since the start.
Except for Verizon, all iPhones to date have been GSM and therefore had SIM cards, even if the unit itself was locked to a carrier.
Why do you think there’s such a huge market for unlocked iPhones in the first place?
how about avoiding paying U$457 for roaming charges like I did last time I was in Europe for just 5 days?
That’s why you buy a sim card when you go overseas… They sell the cheap throw away pre paid sim card, you buy them once you get there not here.
Unless you are on Verizon.
If true and it’s unlocked, AT&T and t-mobile use different bands.. Unless these are not normal AT&T gsm iPhones, and are made to run on all the gsm bands.
I dont see this as the Wednesday surprise myself..
Developers would love a no-contract iPHone to use as a test-bed for new apps.
Parents would love a no-contract pay-as-you-go phone for their kids.
I would love a no-contract phone so I don’t have to pay ridiculous data-fees on top of my ridiculous voice plan.
Thanks Synth….. Your comments are the right answer….
Carriers beware…. NO MORE SLAVE CONTRACTS FOR YOU !!!
My thoughts exactly, why?
The appeal may be limited in the US, as very very small percentage of population gets to travel outside the US borders, but for those of us that do, an (officially) unlocked phone allows us to have a fully working, iTunes-registered phone (which is important, as it allows proper App Store access), plus the ability to pull the SIM out and put a local one when abroad. When traveling, it is much more convenient to have a local number where one can be reached, rather than roaming with an American phone number (nobody wants to make an international call, just to let you know they’re stuck in traffic).
Also, with an unlocked phone, you don’t need to have a $55 (plus taxes, fees, surcharges) plan for the iPhone; you can just go for the $40 voice-only plan and use WiFi for data, or you can use one of the pre-paid Go-Phone plans.
Lastly, an unlocked iPhone would let you use T-Mobile as your GSM carrier in the US (assuming that the new unlocked iPhone does support T-Mobile’s 3G frequencies).
Thanks for explaining what MDN never bothers to do. I am becoming accustomed to reading the MDN news items then sifting through various posts in order to figure out just what in the hell MDN is talking about, as it is not always clear.
In this particular instance, MDN did nothing but report this article and supply an extract. So, sorry, MDN ain’t the one talking about this. When MDN wants to speak, it does so with a clear and certain voice. In the comments. Or as SteveJack. If you’re dissatisfied with the level of information in an individual article, the author of that article deserves your vituperation, not MDN.
I learned a new word today, “vituperation”.
Thanks.
MDN didn’t report anything, as reporting implies something more than merely dumping three paragraphs of someone else’s work onto this site. And the referenced article has not much more of an explanation. More than a few readers here would still have been looking for explanations provided by other posters. Thus my vituperation for the evident constipation in this situation…
As one who travels out of the US frequently, I thought this would be a welcome thing. In the old days, I always purchased unlocked phones so when I’m overseas I can use a local sim and avoid the exorbitant roaming fees.
During my last trip, I took my iPhone 4 plus an unlocked Blackberry. It was horrible using the Blackberry OS, but I didn’t have much choice.
Now there is a prospect of an unlocked iPhone. But there is one catch. Very few countries and carriers even have the microsims. So even an unlocked iPhone won’t be useful until those smaller sims are available from the carriers.
I am currently preparing for a trip to the Eastern Caribbean. While an unlocked iPhone is conceptually nice, it would not be of much benefit since the smaller sim will not be readily available. So it’s the locked AT&T iPhone and the unlocked BB bold again.
Isn’t it easy to cut down a standard sim to fit the Apple micro slot with the adapters and clippers available, or am I mistaken?
It’s a bit tricky to trim cards neatly. I burned a few trying until my local telco got some in stock a couple of weeks after the iPhone arrived
I’d have thought that every country where the iPhone 4 / iPad is available would have micro sims. I’ve travelled around Europe swapping sims were necessary. Planning a trip to the USA in Spetember and hope I can get a suitable PAYG micro sim while I’m there
The catch is, many travellers are buying pay-as-you-go SIMs from discount carriers, which may not carry iPhones (and even carriers that do, they probably don’t stock Micro-SIMs for PAYG phones since few other phones use them).
Every carrier I’ve tried in the UK does PAYG micro sim cards that will work in i devices.
It’s very easy to trim down a SIM with a SIM cutter. Just search for SIM Cutter on eBay. They are about $10 and you can just take it with you on your trip and cut any SIM card to fit!
I was doing it by hand with knife / scissors. I was surprised to find that the chips on different telco sim cards aren’t exactly all the same size. A SIM cutter sounds a good investment.
Unlocked iPhones have been around for some time through jailbreaking. If this rumor is true, then taken with the new features in IOS 5 it looks like Apple is making a concerted effort to pre empt jailbreaking. With all the money they’re losing to the Cydia Store I’m sure they would like to put the jail breakers out of business.
I had a nicely typed out response to this, but this stupid Windows computer from work ate it. Here goes an attempt to recreate it:
Unlocking is synonomous with jailbreaking. My phone is jailbroken, but not unlocked, because I have no need for an unlocked phone.
Apple loses nothing to Cydia Store–Not one dollar.
The apps on Cydia Store are only there because Apple does not want them.
I have my own personal reasons for jailbreaking, which I will not explain here, not because they are nefarious, but because I do not owe anyone an explanation.
I have doing nothing illegal, and I am not stealing from anyone.
I have paid for apps from Cydia, and I have paid for apps from Apple.
iOS’s ability to use the volume control as a camera shutter button is about to send one of my Cydia apps into obsolesence.
When I can buy from Apple I do. When I can not, I go to Cydia.
Actually if you do some searching, Cydia has apps that allow you to get pirated apps installed.. AND allows/tricks iTunes into letting you update them.
Granted not everyone does this.. But it IS possible, and that does cost apple and the dev who made the app.
Other examples, but why bother.
I don’t need to do any searching. I know all about this. I have even tried it out.
I deleted all the pirated apps from my phone and paid for the ones worth keeping.
Jaibreaking is not synonymous to piracy, just as jailbreaking is not synonymous to unlocking (which is what I meant to say in my previous post).
Just because some people who speed also drive drunk is not a reason to charge everyone who speeds with a DUI.
Has everyone forgotten that Apple usually announces new products on Tuesday? It is usually available online right away, but not available in local stores until the next day, Wednesday. Is there some reason why everyone is so focused on Wednesday (other than the signage changes) this time? I bet we’ll know what product is being released tomorrow. Thoughts?
Will it also be possible to someday unlock the current phones without jailbreaking?
Outside the USA, particularly in South America, plans are a rip-off. Many people ask me “Why iPod Touch? Why don’t you get an iPhone?” My answer is, “I’d do it, but the plans are just awful”. So I keep my iPhone Touch and a cheapo Nokia phone.
Jailbreaking is not or me. I like my software updates. If Apple releases an unblocked version, it will boost their international sales.
I do the same thing; I’m cheap!
Same here. Crap LG phone with an iPod touch.
One more cheapo here. An iPod Touch and a little plastic Kyocera phone with a pre-paid Virgin Mobile account.
Jailbreaking and unlocking are two separate, unrelated actions. You can have a jailbroken locked iPhone, which you can only use with your own carrier (AT&T, for example), but can sideload apps from Cydia or whatever.
You can also unlock your iPhone but NOT jailbreak it, therefore having the ability to update with official iOS updates.
American GSM carriers (T-Mobile and AT&T) have always provided instructions for unlocking of their subsidised, locked phones upon request, as long as the customer is in good standing and wasn’t late on a bill payment. Over the past 10 years between the two carriers, I have unlocked over 10 cellphones following instructions from T-Mobile and AT&T. This is very simple and straightforward (You call them and give them you IMEI number, they send you an e-mail with step-by-step instructions). The iPhone is the ONLY exception to this practice. There is no valid justification for this and unfortunately, the number of iPhone owners who aren’t happy with this is negligible enough to make any meaningful noise.
Having said that, there are other (rogue) methods for unlocking your iPhone without jailbreaking it. I am not quite sure if these are reliable, consistent and if they don’t end up causing problems with future iOS updates. Someone with experience might want to chime in on this.
Jailbreaking is a paininthea$$ but some us have do for travel worldwide.
An unlocked iPhone would mean big sales for Apple.
Is Apple trying to throw a monkey wrench into AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile? I hope so.
I want Apple to develop an iPhone with TWO sim cards.
That way a person could have two phone lines on the same device: a business number and home number, or phone numbers for two users, or a domestic number and overseas number.
I have a dual simcard mobile by Samsung; 1 phone, 2 numbers (biz & personal), swap out the personal when in Europe…would also LOVE a dual simcard iPhone.
Makes no sense why more companies don’t make them easily available. Or does it. (follow the money, right?)
Isn’t it possible to use the AT&T iPhone on Wi-Fi overseas and use the Vonage Mobile account over Wi-Fi? That is what I have to call my mother in Canada when I am not at home to use my Vonage line.
So let me get this straight, apple will release a unlocked gsm phone that will require a special fitting sim that most other countries outside the US will probably not have anyways, in order to make it work in those other countries, you will have to cut the sim down to size, then hope it works. Sorry, but I don’t see it. It doesn’t seem like apple would get much out of this. Seems like a waste since this would support relatively few people. I guess we’ll just wait and see.
The infamous internal World Sim perhaps. No, the European carriers bitched at that.
Most of the other countries outside US also carry the iPhone, which means their carriers are already making micro SIMs.
@trondude
OMG!!! how can you be so wrong…. There is so many reason this will benefit Apple and the consumers…. Most of people around the world use pay as you go plan…. wake up! the US is a great country but not looking beyond the border for market would be stupid.
$649.oo will probably be the price…
Wednesday
no-one ever said freedom is cheap/inexpensive.