Submitted by 9to5Mac Noob (not verified) on Thu, 05/01/2008 - 05:56.
I think they are going to open it up. With ATT footing a $100-$200 rebate for 2 year plans (as rumored on macrumors.com), I am guessing that Apple will sell unlocked versions through their store and ATT will sell locked versions at a discount. It is entirely possible that Apple could be looking for a chip that could do more than one function, "in the case of an 802.21 handset, deployment of the standard could theoretically allow the device to seamlessly switch between various connectivity options, including Wi-FI, 3G and (drum roll please), WiMax."
This way, a "open" iphone would work on any high-speed wireless connection on any network. The catch will be whether or not Visual Voicemail works on any network. Believe it or not, this is one of the greatest features of the iphone in my opinion.
I think they are going to
I think they are going to open it up. With ATT footing a $100-$200 rebate for 2 year plans (as rumored on macrumors.com), I am guessing that Apple will sell unlocked versions through their store and ATT will sell locked versions at a discount. It is entirely possible that Apple could be looking for a chip that could do more than one function, "in the case of an 802.21 handset, deployment of the standard could theoretically allow the device to seamlessly switch between various connectivity options, including Wi-FI, 3G and (drum roll please), WiMax."
This way, a "open" iphone would work on any high-speed wireless connection on any network. The catch will be whether or not Visual Voicemail works on any network. Believe it or not, this is one of the greatest features of the iphone in my opinion.