New Jersey Teenager Trades Unlocked iPhone for Nissan Sports Car

zekrahminator · Aug 29, 2007

American teenager George Hotz enjoyed quite the busy summer this year. While simultaneously preparing for college, tinkering with his car, and working to complete several other projects, Hotz managed to find a risky (yet completely effective) method of unlocking the iPhone. While everyone else seems to think that the best way to unlock the iPhone is with a software program, Hotz unlocked it with an intricate 10-step technique involving soldering irons and voltage meters. And while it's not good for the day-to-day hardware modder, a factory could automate the process, and make a substantial amount of profit. Certicell founder Terry Diadone thinks so, and felt that the unlocked iPhone was worth a Nissan 350Z sports car, and three brand-new iPhones. George Hotz gladly accepted the offer, and the official trade was made on Saturday. Hotz drives off to college in style tomorrow, and will be giving away all three iPhones to his best benefactors and friends. While in college, Hotz plans to work with Certicell to do some consulting work, and to add GPS functionality to the iPhone.

If you think you can unlock the iPhone yourself, check out Hotz' blog here.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Grings · Aug 29, 2007

i wonder what he'll get given for the 3 iphones he was given with the car once he's unlocked them? lucky (and talented) swine

Conti027 · Aug 29, 2007

yea i heard about this already. and i saw that most people say that he was dumb cause they thought apple would pay him more to shut up but i think apple would really say you tell any one you will get your ass sued.

oldcrank · Aug 29, 2007

Somebody needs to tell the manufacturers and publishers that their locking and DRM schemes present challenge that some bright people simply cannot resist. We wind up with rediculous situations such as the one involving Vista - the only ones not having problems are the ones who stole it. We also have horrors like the Sony rootkit outrage. My congratulations to the cracker - Apple should have given their customers the options of choosing their own carriers.

niko084 · Aug 29, 2007

Grings said:
i wonder what he'll get given for the 3 iphones he was given with the car once he's unlocked them? lucky (and talented) swine

If he is lucky, he will get enough to pay the insurance..

Look at simple repair and replacement parts costs for those cars....... Its simply outrageous..

jocksteeluk · Aug 29, 2007

it is only a matter of time before Apple gives in and sells the iphone unlocked, i find it stupid that apple would sell a non subsidised product locked to an network anyway.

niko084 · Aug 29, 2007

jocksteeluk said:
it is only a matter of time before Apple gives in and sells the iphone unlocked, i find it stupid that apple would sell a non subsidised product locked to an network anyway.

Profit.... ATT paid them TONS to do it, and it wont really hurt their business or profits at all, in fact it probably made them higher, because many people will just wait for it to be available to their network and buy it anyways.

panchoman · Aug 29, 2007

if you ask me, i dont really think if apple cares about the fact that people are unlocking the iphone, might even boost sales since then people that use other carriers will start buying iphones=boost in sales. same with the new iphone unlocking software website, att threatended to sue them, but i doubt they'll be successfull, the phone belongs to apple,not att, and apple will probably get more sales if they shut up and let people unlock the phones and use it with different carriers.

WarEagleAU · Aug 30, 2007

Wow, this is simply amazing and phenomenal. Way to go dude.

niko084 · Aug 30, 2007

panchoman said:
if you ask me, i dont really think if apple cares about the fact that people are unlocking the iphone, might even boost sales since then people that use other carriers will start buying iphones=boost in sales. same with the new iphone unlocking software website, att threatended to sue them, but i doubt they'll be successfull, the phone belongs to apple,not att, and apple will probably get more sales if they shut up and let people unlock the phones and use it with different carriers.

Apple doesn't care..

AT&T does

kwchang007 · Aug 30, 2007

Apple probably loves this. Why? One: You void your warranty....no more RMA'ing it. Two, more iPhones being sold.

niko084 · Aug 30, 2007

kwchang007 said:
Apple probably loves this. Why? One: You void your warranty....no more RMA'ing it. Two, more iPhones being sold.

Lol forgot about the warranty void.... :laugh:

kwchang007 · Aug 30, 2007

niko084 said:
Lol forgot about the warranty void....

, no more changing batteries

Benpi · Aug 30, 2007

That's funny, a Nissan 350Z is worth like $400.

niko084 · Aug 30, 2007

Benpi said:
That's funny, a Nissan 350Z is worth like $400.

Huh?!?!?!?!?!?!?

They are like $36,000 to start....

kwchang007 · Aug 30, 2007

Benpi said:
That's funny, a Nissan 350Z is worth like $400.

Why do you say that?

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New Jersey Teenager Trades Unlocked iPhone for Nissan Sports Car

zekrahminator

McLovin

Grings

Conti027

oldcrank

New Member

niko084

jocksteeluk

New Member

niko084

panchoman

Sold my stars!

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey

niko084

kwchang007

New Member

niko084

kwchang007

New Member

Benpi

New Member

niko084

kwchang007

New Member

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