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The real story behind the iPhone unlock GUI drama

tuaw.com — There has been bit of drama today around the iPhone unlock program written (in part) by our own Erica Sadun. Lots of rumors are flying around, and lots of folks have it almost right. But none of them knows the real story. And since Sadun works for us, we have kind of an inside track on what really happened.

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  • basye, on 10/10/2007, -1/+25Update: Looks like haRRo's been talking to Forbes also, and claiming that he's the "first to package the product.." TUAW has been told that David Harrison, the 23-year-old from Belfast, is haRRo himself.
    Link to Forbes article: http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/12/iphone-hacking-software-tech-wire-cx_ag_0912iphone.html?partner=yahootix
    Email the author to tell him that this guy is a fraud.
  • gnrlbzik, on 10/10/2007, -8/+12get a freaking life.... wow.....
    • cococooky, on 10/10/2007, -13/+4***** the iphone, and like gnrlbzik said, get a life. I am so sick of the ***** iphone. Its just a phone! get over it.
      • ivanvanderbyl, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2You just wish you had one.
        • Economist35, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2the old "you don't like me because you're jealous"..seriously the fanboys will digg anything with "apple" in the headline of an article unless its anti-apple.
        • cococooky, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3I wish all you dickheads who kept talking about them would use them for something other than posting on digg, and I love how you think that since i hate it i must want one. If I wanted one i would have one, i BUY the stuff i want, with a thing called money.
    • Jeffler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15This is about serious monetary gain so it does have some importance.
  • livemacro, on 10/10/2007, -7/+4Al Gore invented the internet, but I packaged it first.
  • FinestCall, on 10/10/2007, -21/+56I, for one, welcome our SHUT THE ***** UP WITH THE IPHONE NEWS ALREADY overlord.
  • y2kbg, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2You make I see like important news by the way you worded things....
  • legendxx, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12we need the britney spears guy to make a video about this asap
    • toetagger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Leeeeeeeeeave Erica Allllllllloone...
  • jetrocket, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1drama? really?
  • hadi, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3http://hadi.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/first-free-iphone-sim-unlock-software/
  • Uberpussy, on 10/10/2007, -4/+4Drama and the Apple crowd.....I simply can't believe it...
  • newbill123, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4When the article claims "we have kind of an inside track on what really happened." I was expecting some comment by the grifter himself. Instead it merely relays the perspective of one of the code's authors. Further, it was precisely because Erica was out of the loop about the ways her code was being used that created the opening for the fraudster to start his con. Does a person who's had their car stolen have an "inside track" on the car thief or even the theft itself?
    I like TUAW and respect Erica's coding skills, but as it stands the article just attempts to straighten out a few facts about code authorship that bloggers & journalists have been too hurried or careless to corroborate themselves.
    • bradk50, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5So let me get this straight, people who talked to people activily involved in this, the original coder, and the second coder(how very jfk'ish) don't have an inside track? These were all first person sources, rather then some bloggers just relaying some stuff the read elsewhere.

      Sounds pretty inside to me.
  • BobOki, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Well, I guess even the decent users Apple attracts will still get a turd now and again. To think that one user could actually drag a Jesus phone through mud....
    I can understand tourture, unjust wars, moron presidents, burning kids in microwaves, but to put drama in the iphone scene.... I am ashamed.

    *Edit* the above is a joke.... this is a preemptive explination becuase I already know some diggtard is banging away at his keyboard a wonderful message of hate ;P
  • i4ybrid, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1For US users of the iPhone, WHY would you want to unlock the iPhone? So you can use it on the even-worse-than-AT&T T-Mobile??? Why would you go through all this effort to go from a service provider lots of people are complaining about (AT&T) to an even worse (IMO) provider, T-Mobile? WHY???
    • meechwings, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Care to explain why T-Mobile's worse than AT&T?
    • clackerd, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1dude, didn't you know that t-mobile stole his pitbull and entered it into Atlanta's dog fighting circuit?
    • walkingcrow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Well if you live were AT&T doesn't offer service, you have to unlock the phone to even us it. also the current unlock isn't too hard and even with the GUI you still need to do the 1st half of bypassing the actavation and be "jailbroken"
    • toetagger, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0From Wikipedea...
      "As of 2006, T-Mobile USA has captured a total of 11 J.D. Power Awards in the areas of customer care, call quality, and overall customer satisfaction. In particular, it has dominated the wireless industry in the area of customer care and customer satisfaction, winning all customer care and satisfaction awards for all 6 surveyed regions for four years in a row."
      • meechwings, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Last time I looked (granted, that was over two years ago) Consumer Reports ranked the major providers as: Verizon > T-Mobile > Sprint > Cingular.

        I'm wondering if it's changed, since I've been hearing Verizon's customer service blows.
    • RyanBlueThunder, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Former T-Mobile user here. Now iPhone owner and AT&T user. I switched because the T-Mobile data plan was rediculous: $30/month, not including text messaging. So far my reception has been excellent with AT&T (I work in a skyscraper and often had a tough time receiving calls being up so high). So far no complaints.
    • dagamer34, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1T-Mobile has a ***** of hotspots around major urban areas in the US that you get a reduce price on your cell-phone bill when you partner with them. Simple enough. Other reason is that I'm still locked in my 2-year contract with 12 months to go.
    • molecool, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Nobody here has pointed out the obvious: cell phone coverage with each provider depends on WHERE YOU LIVE! Some people love T-Mobile in their area and others call it a dog turt (e.g. yours truly). However, AT&T in L.A. (where I live) isn't much better and thus not worth the hassle of switching. I really want an iPhone in the future and this gives me that option.
  • clackerd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5David Harrison: douchebag savant
  • toetagger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Seems somebody is due a "knee capping".
  • Phlebus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Why do people seem to think they are immune on the net ? Everyone knows everyone in those types of forums, dumb is a good word for him... And no I'm not interested in the I-phone in the least, but that's not the meat of this thread, it's about free Interweb for all. (don't you just feel fluffy now :P ?? )
  • arjunprabhu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2what a mess!
  • xiambax, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I was oneof the first people HaRRo sent the .pxl file too. I still use it today. works great. Dramatic yes. but meh. not my problem.
  • fileptr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0***** ATT, ***** Apple, ***** Steve jobs. Can't they make a phone which just works anywhere???
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