Apple Wins Patent To Wirelessly Reprogram iPhones For Other Carriers

John Brownlee (9:50 am PDT, Apr 19 2011)

Apple Wins Patent To Wirelessly Reprogram iPhones For Other Carriers

Since February, consumers who have wanted to buy an iPhone 4 have had a bit more choice when it comes to carriers than they once did, but even so, there’s still a healthy demand for the ability to unlock an iPhone to wirelessly handshake with any compatible carrier. International travelers, for example, might prefer to be able to easily slap a cheap foreign SIM card into their iPhones when traveling abroad as opposed to paying exorbitant roaming rates, while regular consumers who have run out their contract might like to be able to take their iPhones to another network.

Unfortunately, right now, the only way to accomplish this is either to convince AT&T to unlock your iPhone (good luck with that) or to unlock your device through a jailbreak. Apple could be preparing to make switching your iPhone from one carrier to another easier though, as a recent patent awarded to them details a method in which Apple could wirelessly and remotely reprogram iPhones to work on different carriers.

Not that I think we’ll see that system ever come into play, but wouldn’t that be nice: some mechanism to invoke the ability to actually use the phone you paid for on whatever network you want? Perchance to dream.

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8 comments »

  • Cofm

    Outside ‘merica, Apple already sells unlocked iPhones in many countries.

  • http://twitter.com/davester13 D R

    Apple doesn’t need a patent to be able to unlock a iPhone that is locked to AT&T’s network.

    The problem is that Apple has signed away the right to do so to AT&T contractually, even once the end-user has completely paid off the contract for the iPhone.

    And AT&T has no wish to let you use the iPhone elsewhere.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gnicklaus Gregg Nicklaus

    The only problem with “…use the phone you paid for” concept is, unless you bought an unlocked phone (which relatively few in America do) you didn’t actually pay for the bulk of the phone. AT&T or Verizon did. Once your contract is up the argument may hold some water, but until then you’re beholden to a carrier because you allowed that carrier to pay for a large portion of your phone.

  • Ioannis

    Well, as a Greek customer, it took me some minutes to understand this “locked to x,y,z carrier” thing, fist time I saw it. Down here, all phones (not a single exception!) are unlocked. Of course you can buy a phone at a discounted price with a contract, but you can absolutely throw another sim in the phone and use the contract sim with another phone.
    Anyway, back to the topic; I think you guys look at that patent through the eyes of an optimist.
    Because if Apple is able to wirelessly (without your agreement or even without you noticing it) see which carrier your phone is locked to and change that, doesn’t that mean that Apple also has the ability to wirelessly lock a phone to the carrier it was initially locked to (supposing someone unlocked it through jailbreak) ?

  • http://www.techsangv.com Techsangv.com

    i dont know if its good news for ppl like us..but i am happy that apple won this thing..

  • Anonymous

    I believe this patent isn’t intended so much for unlocking phones but, as an article in AppleInsider pointed out, instead meant to enable Apple to act as MVNO. Apple will negotiate with multiple carriers and leverage their buying power to let users pay for their service in iTunes.

    It’ll be a tough sell since I doubt carriers will let Apple steal their thunder but IF it happens I’m definitely all for it! Just imagine, seamless roaming and very competitive rates!

  • Anonymous

    Unlike some of their other patents, I think this is one that Apple does intend to use and perhaps very soon. In fact, it is possible that the next iphone could have this tech in it. Allegedly the ATT contract is over so who cares if they don’t like to have unlocked phones, the power is in Apple’s hands. And if it is true that they are putting both CDMA and GSM in the next phone this could be the last step to a ‘world iphone’

  • Anonymous

    Unlike some of their other patents, I think this is one that Apple does intend to use and perhaps very soon. In fact, it is possible that the next iphone could have this tech in it. Allegedly the ATT contract is over so who cares if they don’t like to have unlocked phones, the power is in Apple’s hands. And if it is true that they are putting both CDMA and GSM in the next phone this could be the last step to a ‘world iphone’

About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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