I am from North London and they are all over the place here. Not like everyone has one but enough so that everyone has seen a few. Nobody thinks twice about hacking it. Just buy it, get it hacked and enjoy!

Of course in England/Europe right now pretty much any iPhone you see is going to be a hack. Otherwise calling them would be an international call and that would put a real kink in hearing from your friends. ;)

But in the US I'd be surprised, even among the gadget orientated, pioneering mentality early adopters if it was threatening to break 5%. And as time goes on, especially if Apple puts up any sort of resistance, the percentage is going to drop. This isn't like DirecTV or something where hacking means the same quality product for thousands less. You still have to deal with a carrier.

I'm in Australia and there are already quite a few here.

May I just say, Apple are boneheads if they think loyalty to a mobile phone carrier is more important than letting customers enjoy their cool product. It's the epitome of short-term thinking if they are worried about AT&T revenue more than letting people get out there and enjoy their stuff.

Actually you would think it would be a good move, on steve's part, to sell more phones, with future updates by allowing the hack, thereby bypassing His AT&T Deal.

Of course the profits are with AT&T more then then are in phone sales, but just get the phone out there, to spread like wild fire.

Job's did say that Basically he wasnt intentionally disabling the phones, that had been hacked with updates, and that was a smart thing to say, i think primarily to quell the fears of the hackers, at first, and when the new update came out, he quelled, i presume the fear of AT&T.

I beleive future updates will allow hacking, or just not attack it, steve is covered either way, and makes out like a bandit and so will the consumers.

I think Apple had to do so the appease the telcos that they had signed exclusive deals with. There is alot of revenue stream from these telco to Apple. So it only make sense that Apple came out publicly to say that they do not support the unlocking.
At least Apple is kind enough to warn the public that the updates could break the unlock. Else we might be seeing alot of set being rendered useless. Dun you think that Apple is playing both the devil and the angel here???
The updates improvement so far is not substantial for us to risk our set to be locked back again. But the hacker community seems fairly quiet recently about the possibility of a new hack to counter this update...
Actually have anyone brave enough to update their unlock set to see if the update really breaks it????

I live in Mexico and I have some friends who bought their iPhones in the US and unlocked them and they use them with our Mexican phone carriers...

It's getting pretty common over here, since that's the only way to get it now. They say they'll start selling them in January, but it's too long, and the cost is going to be huge...

Aren't we are supposed to be living in a free society? Free
societies use "laissez faire economics" to do business. In other
words, free enterprise. Corporate Apple sells a product, consumer
buys product and decides how they want to use it. They may choose to
use it as a doorstop or a phone. It is ridiculous to think I am
barred from using my phone however I want, as long as it does not
encroach on another.
If it happens to not fit in the "box" that Apple
thinks it should, but the consumer does, shouldn't they change their attitude (agreements)? What ever happened to the philosophy the customer is always right?

The consumer will decide the best course of
action for the product, but the company better listen to the consumer
or there will be a huge backlash. It happens with every business. ATT
is an outstanding example of a company that tries to do the opposite
of the free enterprise market philosophy. They simply don't care
about the consumer, but do care about total control over the consumer
the way "they think is best." ATT would like to change the name to
iControl, not iphone. If you have any doubt, read their agreement and
see how much in control they are. How much information they want from
you, including your SS# (talk about invasion of privacy! Aren't
these some of the reasons why they were busted up years ago? Most saw
them as a threat to free enterprise.

Cannot believe Apple teamed up
with such a rough company. You can bet your last dollar they are
screaming at Apple to do something about the obvious popularity of
the unlock program. It is very legal to do and they know it. If ATTs
service were good and fair, they would not need to say a word. We
would all use it. That is the genius of free enterprise, the consumer
decides which carrier to use, not the other way around. You can bet
all carriers would compete in a most fair manner to win your
patronage. You are king and decide the future of Apple and ATT not
them deciding our future.

If only Nokia, Samsung, Sony and others
would give them a run for their money. Apple and ATT would not behave
this way. Competition is always best for us the consumer. Without the
consumer Apple & ATT would not exist. There are many examples of
trying to lock the consumer out. Which history proves, only results
in bad PR for everyone involved. It takes years to get rid of a bad
taste in everyone's mouth. That is precisely the reason the ATT name
was retired for such a long while, before they started the "New ATT"
with Apple. Those who fail to recognize history are destined to
repeat the same mistakes. Will they never learn?

Brent, you say this is all AT&T's doing, that they're an evil controlling company.

What about O2 in the UK then?

And T-Mobile in Germany?

And Orange in France?

What's the common factor there? Apple. Not AT&T.

Apple has put a lot of money in R & D into developing the iPhone and is looking for the best way to make it's money back as quickly as possible. The exclusive deal with AT&T is for 5 years and I'm sure that the European deals are similar. Apple signed the deal with AT&T in the states because no other carrier would agree to their terms. Apple is one of the best companies out there when it comes to listening to the consumers and what they want. Realize that this is the first generation iPhone and every new generation will be better and I'm sure after the 5 year exclusive deal will be open to all carriers.

You mean I have to pay electric companies just to run my computer! Where's the choice in THAT? I tell you what, tomorrow, let's not plug these computers into the electric company's pipelines of gouging profits, let's just power them up with...WATER!

Hack has several meanings in the technology and computer science fields: a clever or quick fix to a computer program problem; a clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem; or a modification of a program or device to give the user access to features that were otherwise unavailable to them.

The ringtones can be from 3 to 40 seconds in length of any part of a song, can include fading in and out, can pause from half a second to five seconds when looped, and never expire.

Proponents claim to be motivated by artistic and political ends, but are often unconcerned about the use of criminal means to achieve them.

5-25% This is a significant issue for Apple and the carriers