iPhone Unlocked. Any Chance of Seeing it in the Philippine Market?
Posted Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 4:15 am by J. Angelo Racoma
Viewed 8011 times | Related entries: Mobile, Telecoms, Wireless Technology
Engadget recently reports that the iPhone has been unlocked by a six-man team who had been working since launch for an unlocking solution. So will this mean we’ll be seeing the iPhone in the Philippine market anytime soon (the grey market, at least)?
Well, probably, yes. Again, most likely in the grey market. But for all intents and purposes, I think the iPhone would be good just for eye candy for now, and not so much for the rich data features and functionalities that it’s supposed to have revolutionized mobile telephony with. For one, it’s slow, in terms of data transfer. EDGE? Come on–even a PhP 6,000 LG phone supports 3G speeds. Secondly, networks here won’t support the iPhone-specific features that AT&T has, such as visual voicemail and YouTube out-of-the-box.
Still, for me the most important thing the iPhone has contributed to mobile telephony is the user interface, which is worlds apart from how we use our phones today. So the SIM-unlocking and a possible availability in the country are just the first steps. I’m waiting for iPhone version 2, or other manufacturers coming out with iPhone wannabes. Maybe then we’ll see a really big difference.
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16 Responses to “iPhone Unlocked. Any Chance of Seeing it in the Philippine Market?”
NTC and Globe react to the local iPhone hacking.
[...] the iPhone unlocking software into the wild, wild web. A prize of $100,000 is in the offing. Several individuals and companies have actually solved the AT&T unlocking [...]
I’ve already seen one locally that works on a local network.
uhm, yes I know the person who’s got the phone working… 
I’d say the most important contribution of the iphone to the industry is not just the design and interface — that’s too superficial. What makes it work is the capability to implement software updates on-the-fly via updates.
In other words, missing features that are not hardware or network-related are minor issues.
The lifespan of the phone is extended ten-fold, ensuring competitive advantage over other brands via software updates. The system allows for immediate deployment of changes of the whole phone itself. As a marketing proposition to the consumer, I think that is the best value of all.
jdavies,
Nokia and other manufacturers allow firmware updates… what makes the iPhone special in that aspect?
[...] The Pinoy Tech Blog speculated about iPhone availability in the Philippines [...]
I’ve had the iPhone since it went on sale here in the US and i’ve been tinkering and upgrading it since. I’ve tested both Globe and Smart sims on it and it works … There are some issues that i know will be addressed in the future but it was a bit of a pain to move from windoze mobile to iPhone’s OS X. Since all of the issues are software based, it wouldn’t be long until they’ve added those features …
btw, aren’t 3G plans in the philippines limited? no unlimited plans? then it would be a nightmare for someone to be maximizing the data connection on the phone? personally, i use around 1Gb of data traffic per month and it would be nightmare of a monthly bill for me if it wasn’t unlimited …
A lot of the 2.5G and 3G phones sold in the Philippines are *sip* enabled.. I will go dig out the list of mfg and model.. but you have to have an account with a VoIP provider (usually NOT one of the local telco’s).
So.. the iPhone isn’t really that new or innovative.. though Apple does a great job of marketing it.
The newer Nokia Nseries and Eseries with WiFi have SIP.
Hey guys, whats going on…. if anyone who’s interested in buying iphone. please check out my ebay i have 8gb and 4gb available..Iphones are going for 580. check it out limited time offer… any question email me at talk2me_1@yahoo.com iphone is unlocked and good to go will work for globe and smart… free bonuses if you buy now…
http://myworld.ebay.com/mr_kemikal/
if anyone who’s interested in buying iphone. please check out my ebay i have 8gb and 4gb available..Iphones are going for 580. check it out limited time offer… any question email me at talk2me_1@yahoo.com iphone is unlocked and good to go will work for globe and smart… free bonuses if you buy now…
http://myworld.ebay.com/mr_kemikal/
I just saw the iPhone today at greenhills being sold at Php28,000. They were still all in the box, so I didn’t have an idea if they were purchased from AT&T and are already unlocked. However, there were multiply stalls selling them.
I also saw a woman in Trinoma using hers too.
So I guess it means that it already has invaded the Philippine market, considering that no major telephone company endorsing it yet.
just got an unlocked iphone, could not wait
for its availability next year, anyways, the
chosen carrier will require you to get a higher
plan or even a separate data or internet plan. I have no intention of adding to the Billions
of profits of Smart or Globe… their profit is
even way way bigger than the Phil largest Co.- San Miguel!
Paramihin pa yung unlocked iPhones!
Ask your relatives in the US to buy iPhones
for you and also one of the unlocking softwares like iphonesimfree.com @ $60.00
Wala naman problema yung sa akin, huwag
matakot.
[...] afficionados have been itching to have one, be it shipped from some Pinoys overseas or not and hacked to work with the local mobile networks. It seems that almost everyone wants to have an iPhone. Do [...]
Hi All, Newbie here from the States. Has anybody checked out the Taiwanese Cect P168 which is basically iPhone clone, seems to offer much more versatility such as dual sim cards, unlocked, external battery. I believe the only thing it won’t do is sync with ITunes, but it does MP3, MPEG4, and so on. Just curios if anybody is using this phone in the PI.
kaylan po ba talaga ilalabas iyung iphone na yan ang tagal sinu po ba nag makakasagot sa aking niya iyung hindi made in china na iyung orig dapat na iphone
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