Many of you know I owned an iPhone (1st generation) since June 2007 and had to unlock and jailbreak it so that I can use it here in Hong Kong.
In the past 12 months I had unlocked/restored my iPhone over 30+ times, and documented much of my experience and findings with fellow readers. Much of these repeated unlocking and restoring was because I was testing various “unauthorized” 3rd party applications (”hacks”) for the iPhone, and some of them were not that stable.
So when Apple released the iPhone firmware 2.0 on July 1, 2008, I was very excited about the functionalities that it will delivers and was eager to find available an unlock & jailbreak method that will allow me to upgrade my iPhone (1st generation) to the new firmware.
The wait was finally over this past Saturday night (July 19 HKT) when the iPhone Dev Team released their “Pwnage Tool 2.0″. Although, I was eager to try it, I did not want to jump too quickly into the process, due to my past experience over the year of the various methods used to unlock/jailbreak the iPhone.
I held myself back for 24 hours to give iPhone web sites: ModMyiFone, Hack the iPhone, MacGeekBlog, etc. time to refine the procedures and all the possible things that may go wrong during the process.
Now I am happy to say that I have now successfully unlocked my iPhone running firmware 2.0. The process went without a hitch.
I did not have to do anything to my already unlocked iPhone running firmware 1.1.4. All I did to prepare myself for the unlocking was the following:
Upgrade my iTunes to 7.7
Download the firmware 2.0 (5A347), placing this firmware (IPSW file) in ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates/ folder on your Mac.
Ensure there is an empty ~/Library/iTunes/Device Support/ folder on your Mac.
There was a report last night that the iPhone 3G sold by the carrier, Three, in Hong Kong is unlocked; meaning it is not tied to a specific carrier.
This news was a bit hard to believe as news from other countries like US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the iPhone 3G sold there are all locked to the respective mobile carriers.
Therefor, if you do not want to stick with Three’s service you now have a choice, but the cheapest choice is:
HKD4680.00 + HKD188 x 24 months + MTR Fee (HKD12 x 24) = HKD9480.00 - HKD1742 = HKD7738 (including the rebate you will receive over 2 years)
Now I have first hand confirmation from a friend who purchased one of these iPhone 3G at Three HK. He was able to put in a PCCW SIM card while having full access to all functionalities of the phone including EDGE and GPRS functions.
Is this really worth it. I say not, especially if you already have an iPhone (1st generation). Wait for the other carriers in Hong Kong; namely PCCW and/or Smartone-Vodafone receive the rights to sell the iPhone 3G.
Apparently the highly anticipated Apple iPhone 3G will only be available to the selected few, at least in Hong Kong.
Yesterday, O2 began announced that their pre-orders for the iPhone 3G had been filled and ask interested customer to return to their web site on July 10th to find information on new inventory and next availability.
Similar situation in Hong Kong with Apple’s partner carrier, “3″. I have inside sources informs me that their initial inventory of 500 Apple iPhone 3G had already been sold out 2 weeks ago. There was no limits placed on the number of phones each person were allow to purchase. Therefore, some of the selected few were able to purchase a dozen iPhone 3G, while the rest of us, under privileged in the eyes of Li Ka Shing’s mobile carrier “3″, will not be able to get an iPhone 3G on Friday, July 11th, even if I am willing to change carrier and choose one of the high tariff plans offered. Of course, I am not, so I am not too concern.
For the rest who are already a 3 customer or willing to switch carriers, I think this is very unfair and Apple HK should have been managed the situation better. Although, this sort of insiders privilege is a common occurrence in Hong Kong, Apple HK should have imposed a maximum purchase quantity so that as many individuals can share the Apple experience and privilege of owning an iPhone 3G on July 11th.
As with everything that Apple does in the past 24+ years, everyone tries to copy what they do.
We saw it with the removal of a floppy disk from a computer (1990s). Initially the critics were criticizing Apple for removing the floppy disk being a stupid idea. Then manufactures begin to imitate what Apple does. Eventually we saw the death of floppy disk and drives.
Apple added Firewire (IEEE 1394) ports (late 1990s) to all their computers and “uneducated” critics thought that it was a proprietary port that Apple force upon consumers and was a waste.
Apple promoted the use of CD-R drives on all their computers, again critics claims that that was a stupid idea as CD-R media was too expensive and say that no one will need such large amount of storage for personal use. Apple does not listen and sent out all their Developers Program media on CDs only.
Apple took the MP3 player, redesigned it and released the iPod in 2003, the same critics come along and claim that Apple is just imitating manufactures like iRiver and others who had MP3 players in the market for years. What Apple did instead was reinvented the mobile music concept with the 3-prong team of the iPod, iTunes audio jukebox and the iTunes Music Store.
Competitors try to imitate what Apple had done, by coming out with what they claim “iPod killers”, which are devices that look like the iPod superficially but does not have the usability, nor do they have iTunes or the iTunes Music Store.
Others also try to over throw Apple’s lead in the online music retail by launching their own online music stores to compete with Apple’s iTunes Music Store, but again they do not have the iPod or the iTunes music jukebox.
In 2007 Apple released the iPhone 2G and changed the mobile phone industry. What they had done was to push the envelop of mobile phone design. They did not try to just create an extraordinary mobile phone, they also wanted to create an ultimate mobile connected information device. In doing so caused all the competitors to rethink their own mobile phone design directions.
Some critics criticizes the fact that the iPhone is not comparable to most high end smart-phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, HTC, etc., but what these critics keep missing is what Apple claims the iPhone 2G is capable of and that Apple is using the iPhone 2G as the first-device for the platform.
Can you remember what the iPod was like back in 2003? Could you have imagine the “3rd generation iPod nano” or the “2nd generation iPod Shuffle”? Can you image what the iPhone will be like in 5 years?
Over the years Apple had mostly been successfully in setting the expectations of their customers and audiences for Apple products and services. With the launch of the iPhone 2G on June 29, 2007, Apple released numerous amount of information; including videos, of what the iPhone is and the various things one can do on it.
Similarly, AT&T wanted to do the same expectation management with the launch of the iPhone 3G, and created the AT&T iReady program; including videos. What the iReady program and accompany videos did was to highlight the complexities of purchasing a mobile phone from a carrier and how poor a shopping experience it is.
An hour ago Apple’s co-founder, CEO, Steve Jobs, announced the highly anticipated Apple iPhone 3G during the keynote speech at the WWDC 2008 in San Francisco. It will be available July 11, 2008 in 70 countries around the world.
The announcement had some surprises; confirmation of built-in GPS. All in all were information that many of the rumor sites had already published: 3G radio, longer battery life, multiple colours (Black and White) and lower price. What was missing, that I had hoped for was video conferencing or Mobile iChat. Well there is just over a month before the actual release date, may be there is another higher version at the USD399.00 price point: more storage 32GB and video conferencing to be announced before the date.
Yes, Apple lower the price of the 8GB version to USD199.00 and the 16GB version to USD299.00. Making one to speculate there may be yet another model at the original USD399.00 price. I think I may hold out for that.
The most interesting is that it showed up on Apple HK’s Store, but when I try to follow the “Find a store” link within the page, it gave me a “Page Not Found” error. I guess Apple forgot to put up a “Coming Soon” page for this. As Hutchison Telecom had already announced last week that it signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone 3G through is “3″ mobile brand. I just hope that it is not the only carrier that will carry the iPhone 3G in Hong Kong.
During the keynote, Steve Jobs failed to offer any details of Apple’s business arrangements with these mobile carriers in the 70 countries. It is already know from the various mobile carrier press releases in the past several weeks, there are more than one carrier in a most of these 70 countries that will be selling the iPhone 3G.
The Apple Stock had a roller coaster ride during the 2 hours of the keynote, taking a dive of almost USD4.00 during the 3rd party application demos; which most have seen during the announcement of the iPhone SDK in January, then rising to a high of USD184+ when the 3G iPhone was (”confirmed”) announced by Steve Jobs. It then drop a USD6.00 dollars when everyone realize there’s no “Just One More Thing” announcement.
I think both the market and myself was expecting Steve Jobs (Apple) to detail their future business arrangements with the mobile carriers in these 70 countries. Being a shareholder myself (full disclosure), hopefully Apple will release more details as we get closer to the actual release date of July 11th.
The one other surprise and rumor confirmation was the announcement of MobileMe, which is the next generation of .Mac for Macintosh computers, Windows computers and iPhones. To put it simply, it is a Web 2.0 refresh of (the over due revamp) .Mac service. Although, given its compatibility with iPhones (equipped with 2.0 firmware), I may again have a use for this service. Given I can install version 2.0 of the iPhone firmware on my current hacked iPhone 2G.
[Update: June 10, 2008]
Thank to the reader, AC, I just checked Apple’s “Find a Store” link and it is now pointing to a page where it lists “3″ as the mobile carrier to purchase the iPhone.
It is reported that the first of Hong Kong’s mobile carriers: CSL (with two brands 1010 and One2Free), People (recently purchased by China Telecom), Sunday (recently purchased by PCCW), Smartone-Vodafone (with a partnership involving the mobile giant, Vodafone) and Hutchison Telcom’s Orange and 3. The latter is where Hutchison announced that they will resell the Apple iPhone later this year in Hong Kong and Macau.
Recently Apple shows signs of changing their business model for the iPhone partnerships with carriers. When Apple is predicted to make their announcement of the next generation iPhone, at the keynote speech of the WWDC, there will be multiple carriers selling iPhones for any given country.
With this in mind I am hoping the big brother of Smartone-Vodafone will be reselling the iPhone also.
The reaction to the Vodafone announcement that it has strike a deal with Apple to release the iPhone in 10 countries: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, was a mix bag of haters, be-littler and fan-boy.
The iPhone arriving in Asia had been anticipated for some time. The latest is definitely good news for all the countries mentioned in the Vodafone press release.
As we all know, Vodafone has one of the largest worldwide mobile network, and has 3G coverage in many of them.
Whether Vodafone waited for the 3G version of the iPhone before signing the deal with Apple, no one really knows for sure accept the parties in these talks. Whether Apple will retire the 2.5G version of the iPhone is also a speculation.
No matter which country you’re in, there are consumers who are happy with the speed and capabilities of a 2.5G network iPhone, and there are ones who need and want to pay for a 3G network iPhone. Ironically, the only exception being the United States, as 3G coverage is not that prevalent in North America.
Critics; particularly the Americans, should step back and recognize that Apple is aiming at the global mobile phone market and not just United States.
As for the original rumors about the iPhone’s Asian launch, the stages are:
India –> Australia/New Zealand –> Taiwan –> Hong Kong –> China.
Personally living in Hong Kong, should make me feel like a second class citizen; in this case 3rd or even 4th. But I am not disappointed, because like the thousands of iPhone users in Hong Kong, we are happily using our jailbroken/unlocked iPhone on every local carrier network since June 2007. Like most early adopters, will continue to do so until the 3G network version comes out, which I will upgrade to… anyone likes to buy an used iPhone?
@dapunster don't you just deploy the app through Cydia 7 hours ago
Blew off the Nokia presentation and now heading back to Wanchai to get out of this suit 9 hours ago
It's very surprising that Nokia is still sticking with the old distribution model. This gives both Apple & Google more chances 2 pull ahead 11 hours ago
Sitting through the Nokia presentation 11 hours ago
There was a report last night that the iPhone 3G sold by the carrier, Three, in Hong Kong is unlocked; meaning it is not tied to a specific carrier.
An hour ago Apple’s co-founder, CEO, Steve Jobs, announced the highly anticipated Apple 
It is reported that the first of Hong Kong’s mobile carriers: CSL (with two brands 1010 and One2Free), People (recently purchased by China Telecom), Sunday (recently purchased by PCCW), Smartone-Vodafone (with a partnership involving the mobile giant, Vodafone) and Hutchison Telcom’s Orange and 3. The latter is where Hutchison announced that they will resell the Apple iPhone later this year in Hong Kong and Macau.
The reaction to the Vodafone announcement that it has strike a deal with Apple to release the iPhone in 10 countries: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, was a mix bag of haters, be-littler and fan-boy.
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