On the iPhone 4
The iPhone. Perhaps you’ve heard of that little device that the marketing and engineering geniuses at Apple unleashed on the world for the first time back in 2007. It’s been a long and interesting journey to where we are now, with the fourth iteration of the i Operating System having just come out. Throughout the iPhone’s life its hardware and software capabilities have been enhanced and honed to bring us, the consumers, an end product that we actually want to use. Apple has always embraced the importance of doing it right versus doing it first, and the evolution of the iPhone is certainly no exception. Features built into the iPhone’s hardware and software are not just there to be a line item on a spec sheet. They are included with a purpose, and designed to actually be used. A tremendous part of usability is the software that makes use of the hardware, an area where apple really shines. But that’s a topic for another day.
Today marks the day when thousands around the world get to get their hands on a brand new iPhone 4. (Well kind of.. The iPhone officially launched today in the US, France, Germany, the UK, and Japan, and many of those that pre-ordered in the US actually received their units yesterday). I did not pre-order the phone, nor did I stand in line at my local apple store to try and get my hands on one. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to. But alas, Apple does not offer the iPhone for sale in the United States unlocked. Given that I am headed to Australia to study abroad for a semester in a few short weeks, buying a locked iPhone wouldn’t be very practical, as I would be forced to pay AT&T ridiculous roaming rates for 4.5 months, instead of just popping in a local prepaid sim card from Telstra, 3, Vodaphone, Virgin, Optus, or any of the other local carries with much more reasonable rates (Especially for data!). Why Apple doesn’t offer the iPhone in the US, even to customers that are willing to pay the unsubsidized rates is beyond me, though I suppose it might have something to do with wanting to control the market and limiting handset exportation. The fact that AT&T an Apple wont even unlock your handset after your contract is up is further mind boggling.
Yes, I know if I had an older iPhone I could use one of the many unauthorized tools out there to jailbreak and unlock it, but that leaves me at the mercy of the (wonderful) iPhone Dev Team, and forces me to hold off on official updates until new tools are released. Such an unlock also does not exist for the iPhone 4 to date, as it has a new radio (and thus baseband) in addition to a whole slew of other new hardware that will take some time to break into (Though, undoubtedly, it will happen eventually).
The current plan is to buy the iPhone 4 in Australia, unlocked, once it comes out there. This will force me to ship the handset back to Australia should I ever have any warranty problems, and also forces me to pay full price for the unit, despite getting no break on my month to month fees from AT&T even though they are no longer subsidizing anything. Ridiculous, yes, but perhaps a worthy price to pay for not being locked into a contract and having hardware with a significantly higher resale value being unlocked officially by Apple.
To those of you who are lucky enough to already be playing with Apple’s latest iDevice, enjoy. I’ll be waiting just a bit longer. If anyone is interested, I started up a thread on the Whirlpool forums about my intentions for iPhone purchase and use in Australia here. And If anyone has any additional recommendations for a carrier and/or prepaid plan in australia, leave them in the comments!
