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Sean
Ok so you think that for $99 or there about you can get your lovely new iPhone unlocked and not be with AT&T? Think again, Apples next firmware update will make you wish you hadn’t unlocked your iPhone as you’ll want it so bad!
What will it contain?
Flash Support. [You know you want that!]
Sync to Itunes via Wifi [Heck, if the new iPod can do it.. why not!]
Copy and Paste feature. [Simple to intergrate and would make your life easier!]
Instant Messaging [Most likely iChat!]
iPhone unlocking blocked [Oh please, don’t tell me you didn’t see that one coming!]
But why isn’t it out yet?
Well that part’s simple! Apple want to make sure that this time there is no way in hell that their iPhone can be unlocked, so they are taking their time! They can’t bring out all these features to make you want to upgrade your firmware again can they? 
Where did you get this information?
Out of the top of my head, it makes sense though doesn’t it! You know they’ll do it! Not only to stop the iPhone unblocking but to increase sales that tiny bit more!
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I’m not so sure Sean,
If the iPhone is hacked, more are sold and Apple benefits!
I suspect, if they do anything about the hack, it will be a lip-service fix for AT&T’s benefit which will be broken again in short order.
You certainly make a good point Tom, however I don’t think Apple will see it like that, instead of playing the whole cat and mouse game with the unlocking system I see them as just going “Ok gone..” Kinda like the homebrew games problem with the PSP. Of course nothings to say you wouldn’t be able to downgrade your firmware and use the hack, however it would cost you a good bit of functionality. Thats just my thoughts though, we’ll have to wait and see!
Sean, something you just wrote doesn’t sit with me: “…homebrew games problem with the PSP”. I think Sony made a huge mistake trying to kill the homebrew movement. By fighting homebrew, they severely limited the platform. I regret buying the PSP for this precise reason. Heck, it could have been so much more. The PSP could have been the AppleII of highly portable computing. Strangely enough, the PS3 can run Linux and therefore offers some form of openness. Has Sony changed their mind?
Olivier, I totally agree with you, but they haven’t changed the PSP back yet have they? True the PS3 has some form of openness, but I see Apple closing this totally off until they decide to sell their own “network free” version.
In the case of Apple, I agree with Tom: they would sell more iPhones. Note, however, that Apple is also incentivized when people activate with AT&T. One thing’s for sure: Apple must have some contractual obligation with AT&T to fight these hacks.
They would sell more iPhones of course, but they probably look at it as, “We’ll sell all the AT&T ones we can, then release sim free ones” thats what I think anyway. Where’s fake steve when you need him! Apple I would say have an obligation to fight these hacks, however if they really don’t care, they won’t put much effort into it!
Please remember that in the autumn the iPhone will come out in European countries, where different laws apply. SIM locking phones is either illegal (Belgium) or limited to one or two years.
In some European countries, locking a phone is allowed only if the phone is sold with a price discount eg. when the phone is given away for free with a provider subscription.
All this will mean that the European iPhone will either have a different lock, or indeed no lock at all.
How do you think Apple will solve that?
Oh well over here I don’t think its going to be “As Big” of a deal, I think Apple feel that way too, as they have taken forever to release it. US is going to make them the most money, so I think by the time the European one comes out, it will be the least of their worries about the unlocking. Also, have you heard of it going to Belgium?
Martin, I don’t remember seeing Belgium in the list of European countries targetted for the next phase… Ireland wasn’t there either
Sean, I strongly disagree, Europe is a “big deal” for Apple.
Olivier, I think Europe should be a big deal for Apple, but they obviously don’t see that! On the other side of it we already have loads of smartphones, so even though the iPhone is amazing its not like its going to be the only one on the market. You can tell Apple don’t think Europe is “As” important as US also as look how long it is taking them to even secure contracts and close deals over here..
Sean, I think Apple just wanted to stagger the release. You have to remember Apple is a newcomer to the mobile phone business and that they were launching a revolutionary product. And BTW, we might have “loads of smartphones” but we’re talking about the best selling smartphone in the US over the last month. Smartphones aren’t created equal
Since this post was written I am glad to that the unlocking software has become more sophisticated. Though I am not sure how Apple feels, (I can imagine how AT&T feels), there are roughly 25% of Iphones on the market that are not activated with AT&T, there for Apple looses out on the residual but they have another unit sold that otherwise wouldn’t have been.