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China Mobile asking Apple to intentionally cripple iPhones

appleinsider.com — China Mobile is eventually expected to offer the iPhone to mainland China but has requested that Apple deliver a model with Wi-Fi and 3G technology disabled, according to the South China Morning Post.

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  • philodygmn, on 09/25/2008, -8/+37They already did for AT&T, why should anyone be surprised if they cave to China, too?
    • BigVi, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2This is what I love about censorship... No one ever will figure out how to reactive them.
  • hybryd131, on 09/25/2008, -1/+15That's what jailbreaking is for. Takes just a few minutes and you can get almost any feature that the hardware can handle. I'm curious whether or not it is a hardware or software cripple though.
    • migitalwarfare, on 09/26/2008, -1/+9Sure, the Chinese government will totally allow access to a hacking website. They're all about open access to information
      • bsl4doc, on 09/26/2008, -0/+4Of course they will! Just like no one in China has ever found a way to connect to banned websites through non-Chinese proxies, right?
      • gelatina1996, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1@bsl4doc: They must probably block sites that show non-chinese proxies.
    • planetbeing, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1They would have to deploy two versions of the software updates: one tailored to Chinese customers and the other to the rest of the world. That is fairly costly from a maintenance point of view. In order to prevent people from simply restoring Western firmware onto Chinese devices (I am sure everyone in China who has access to iPhone is familiar enough with warez that this will be thought of), they would have to add something special to the SysCfg segment of the system NOR that prevents cross-flashing of the firmware. If that is done, either a patch to the firmware or a patch to the SysCfg segment (a bit risky) would be necessary.

      To do it in hardware, they would need to produce a separate line of hardware specifically for the Chinese market and revise their firmware to detect if the hardware's been disabled and not show 3G, Wi-Fi related options in the UI.

      I dunno; it'd take a bit of work. The software stuff would be defeatable, but a jailbreak wouldn't automatically result in those features being enabled. It would require a bit of study.

      Disabling those features would be a dick move and one that would be worthwhile to defeat, though.
  • AllenFresno, on 09/25/2008, -7/+3I don't think they would agree.
    • FishThePirate, on 09/26/2008, -1/+0Throw enough money at them and they will.
  • reeds101, on 09/25/2008, -12/+12Micro$oft has done things to help criple the people of china, so I don't see why apple won't give in to their gov. too.
    • chevriley, on 09/26/2008, -1/+9read the article. its not about "cripling" the people of china, just a corporation making an assholey move for the big bucks.
      • Myztry, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1The US economy tanks, and China becomes the place for "big Bucks"?
    • ruddy, on 09/26/2008, -2/+14you're $o cool
      • digitalpencil, on 09/26/2008, -5/+4i'm not exactly for the use of '$' as 's' either but this from the guy with a Windows avatar?
      • ruddy, on 09/26/2008, -1/+2I'm typing this from a Macbook Pro, and I do development work on Linux at home. It's just an avatar.
    • monkeyrun, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1I think in mainland China they don't even use 3G, so that leaves disabling WiFi..

      Taking away WiFi = Crippling the people of China? wow...
    • Chrysalii, on 09/26/2008, -0/+0MicroSoft
  • Bobbysin, on 09/26/2008, -7/+58***** china
  • EcoLogic, on 09/26/2008, -3/+12It's infuriating that all of these corporations are willing to cooperate with the government to do harm to the rights of the Chinese people. In this case it's a relatively minor harm, but Microsoft and Yahoo (among others,) have gone a long way to help free speech from breaking out in China.
    • omarciddo, on 09/26/2008, -1/+4They're companies, not human rights groups. They do what they have to do to make money; it's all about the bottom line in the end. Who knows, if it ends up being a hardware cripple, the iPhones might not be as expensive to make, increasing profit margins.
      • Myztry, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1If there are patents, copyrights or other profitably favorable things in question, they insist on global laws based on there own countries well lobbied local law.
        But if there are humans rights abuse, illegal mining methods, etc (Illegal in their incorporated country) then they're all for other countries having different laws...
        Hypocrites!
  • infinitexx, on 09/26/2008, -0/+42What exactly is the point of an iphone without 3g and/or wi-fi?
    • darkNiGHTS, on 09/26/2008, -3/+23APPPLLLEEE!! SHINNNYYY!!

      I think those features are secondary to most people who buy Apple products.
      • ryanonfire, on 09/26/2008, -3/+5people buy the brand not the product.
    • digitalpencil, on 09/26/2008, -0/+5pretty sweet remote control.. nah i can't think of anything either.
    • bonds, on 09/26/2008, -0/+8Expensive subpar phone?
    • SethBoy, on 09/26/2008, -0/+4Wouldn't even work as a remote without the WiFi.
    • Sillywombat, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1Otherwise it is too much hassle in limiting the web.
      People could find loopholes.
    • Relikh, on 09/26/2008, -1/+1I guess most people forget this... but... built in ipod?
      • ErikHK, on 09/26/2008, -0/+0iPod Touch?
      • Relikh, on 09/27/2008, -0/+0With a phone. Chinese people like nice things too and maybe can't afford both. Phones are freakin expensive in China.
  • Trilogy, on 09/26/2008, -8/+15I didn't know they could intentionally cripple it more than it already is.
  • digitalpencil, on 09/26/2008, -0/+828 million prospective users... no wonder Apple want to crack this nut.
    • localzuk, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1As the site is blocked here, why is it 28million? Is that the number of the population who could afford one?
    • digitalpencil, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2nah it's estimates by CM that 20% of handsets sold in 07 cost upwards of $4000 RMB ($533) which works out at roughly 28 million prospective customers.
  • MacBookForMe, on 09/26/2008, -3/+8Never trust the communist party:)
    • meghalc, on 09/26/2008, -3/+3U.S. is heading the same way. When a governement tells you what to do and they wont listen to your opinions in taking huge decisions, like the bailout.
    • mdcraig62, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
      • Cybermaul, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1I would never swap fluids with the communist party.

        Oh, wait, you said sap...the principle of the matter remains.
  • spiritflare1, on 09/26/2008, -3/+4the great firewall of China is at the Chinese ISP or Cellular service provider level, so what are they fussing about? If they didn't want users downloading proxy bypass apps, then just ask Apple to send the Iphone without the appstore just to get it into the country. It won't matter in the long run anyhow because ppl. will just jailbreak for installer app. I find it hard to believe they need to investigate the technology, they probably stole the plans years ago when their clone stores starting making Iphone copies.
    • bkemper, on 09/26/2008, -1/+1You might want to thing about reading the article.
  • hoodratthangs, on 09/26/2008, -2/+10Dear China:
    You know you can't fake everything.
    Steve
    • AlienMushroom, on 09/26/2008, -3/+1Dear Steve,
      Your clock's ticking.
      Everybody.
  • secrity, on 09/26/2008, -0/+18This is no worse than the general handset crippling that is done at the request of US carriers. Aren't there some Nokia handsets that have the Wi-Fi disabled at the request of an American carrier?
    • bkemper, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2Verizon cripples a lot of the bluetooth and USB capabilities. Which was why I was ready to move to AT&T for the iPhone. The iPhone DOESN'T do that (at least here).
  • biz20, on 09/26/2008, -2/+2China Mobile needs to step its game up.
  • JimBean, on 09/26/2008, -10/+1Why, my "friends" do you Digg this ? Surely crippling anything is not in the consumers best interest ? I burried this coz I think crippling SUX ! Why manufacture a "feature" and then only allow certain global users to access it ? Stoopid !
    • Commodus, on 09/26/2008, -0/+9Because it's the story people endorse, not the cause! Think about it for a moment.
    • theratster, on 09/26/2008, -0/+8You digg the STORY.
    • flip360, on 09/26/2008, -2/+7............................................________
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    • mzieg, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2Because anything that reminds the free people of the world just how oppressive China's government can be, is worth shouting from a mountaintop. Also, because stories like this (however they get proxied / mirrored / emailed / etc) help show the Chinese just how much their government is trampling on their people's access to information and communication.

      A disappointing number of technologically literate, college-educated young metropolitan Chinese actually SUPPORT the Communist Party, because they know that, were genuine democratic elections to be held, the city-dwellers would be out-voted by the vast countryside (e.g., red-state America). They don't WANT democracy, because they'd lose power (to continue the analogy, I guess that would be America's blue coastlines). Therefore, stories like this help remind Chinese powerful young up-and-comers that oppression hurts them, too.
    • CosmoLoss, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1wat
    • vallver, on 09/26/2008, -0/+0Digg. You are doing it wrong.
  • connieLingus, on 09/26/2008, -1/+4what china and its market of 1.3 billion citizens wants, china gets...that's capitalism, folks. i don't agree with the idea of restricting use like this, but sometimes people forget that china is not a democracy, its a socialist state run by party thugs.
    • WoollyMittens, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3More despotist than socialist, really.
  • Straw, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1It should be noted that the South China Morning Post mentioned in the article is a Hong Kong newspaper. We shouldn't read this piece and wonder if the Communist Party has relaxed their attitude and is now allowing dissenting opinions in mainland newspapers.
  • helenkupo, on 09/26/2008, -1/+3It's funny coming from a country that already sells tons of bootleg iphones and other such electronics.

    http://www.lightinthebox.com/

    Super cell phone!
    • Sozin, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3Wait what? So you're telling me that the eyeFone I bought on my last trip to Beijing is a cheap knockoff?
      • helenkupo, on 09/26/2008, -1/+4If it still works and it cost half the price...does it matter?
      • bsl4doc, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2@helenkupo

        It matters because most of them *don't* work. You should try buying bootleg electronics/accessories sometime.
  • CuriosityBites, on 09/26/2008, -3/+1Suppress the people of China even more and you will see an uprising of the people vs the Government. When and if that happens, it will be up to the world bodies to step in and instill democracy! Then China would get it's liberation that they deserve!
    • teh_spazz, on 09/26/2008, -1/+2Oh go away.
    • mzieg, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2YEAH! They may not be willing to fight and die for their freedom...but BY GOD they'll lay it all on the line for their IPHONES!

      VIVA LA REVOLUTION!
  • spunalot, on 09/26/2008, -2/+1What would a 1.5 billion person multiparty democracy be like. Look how fked up ours is. I personally think China would fall into chaos.
    • vvaduva, on 09/26/2008, -2/+1"I personally think China would fall into chaos."

      That's because you are an idiot...
  • liudamao, on 09/26/2008, -1/+4As a people living in China PRC, as far as I know ,it's the China Mobile itself NOT the government want Apple to make such a ridiculous cripple. So just relax.
    B.T.W. 19 out of 20 friends around me will use the smart handsets which cost less than $200 ,for myself I use a cell phone only costs about $50.
  • vvaduva, on 09/26/2008, -1/+1Do they come in communist-red?
    • AlienMushroom, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2Well, at least they don't need to worry about economy collapse.
  • TurboSquid, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2They already do this in Canada. A ( non iPod ) example would be early Telus camera phones, you could take pictures till the thing ran out of memory but would have to pay to download them off of the Telus website because they had disabled the USB port... ( Unless you knew a little about BREW :p )
  • HappyScrappy, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3They're SIM locked in my country the US. Guess on whose behalf that was done? AT&T.

    It can't do tethering either (unlike a Blackberry). Guess on whose behalf that was left out?

    Remember the Wi-Fi base station software that was removed from the Apple store? Guess whose rules that violates?

    It's at least as bad that people think neutering a phone for a carrier only happens in China.
    • seraph582, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3Jailbreak, this is HappyScrappy. HappyScrappy? Jailbreak. I don't believe you two have met before!
  • HappyScrappy, on 09/26/2008, -0/+4They already cripped the iPhone for AT&T.

    SIM locked.
    No tethering.
    They removed the Wi-Fi base station software from the store for AT&T.

    Wake up folks. This is already being done to you by Apple.
    • seraph582, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3Jailbreak, this is HappyScrappy. HappyScrappy? Jailbreak. I don't believe you two have met before!

      $100 says Apple execs themselves jailbroke them before AppStore came out, and still do if they have any need for tethering.
  • bjs3171, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2if they need to cave, just leave out the 3G. Removing the wi-fi just makes it pointless.
  • singularityv, on 09/26/2008, -3/+1Wait, the iPhone isn't crippled already? What?
  • zbeast, on 09/26/2008, -2/+1China and the middle east are perfect examples of what happens when government and religion are out of control.

    The phone thing just just another day in crazy country's.
  • rauldeandrade, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1I thought they had 20 different iPhone models for sale there already...
  • googleabcd, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1The Chinamobile doing this for making more profit and market share, this is called capitalism.
  • JackDoyle, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3If the iPhone were on Verizon it'd be a done deal already.
  • mediterrenean, on 09/27/2008, -1/+1May Apple dump China Mobile! I think I am speaking for our Chinese compatriots here that Who Wants an Crippled iPhone, you dumb ass executives at China Mobile!
  •  

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