The Apple [[iPhone]] is not as one reporter said being 'unlocked.'
In mobile phones, unlocking or [[SIM lock]] refers to the ability for a GSM mobile operator to lock a device such that it will work only with their network and their SIM installed. In some countries like France, this is viewed as anti-competitive and is illegal. In other countries like the USA and Canada, the mobile operator chose the CDMA radio option to assure that this would happen. There is no SIM card inside, only electronics tuned to their spectrum and their security measures that mean only the mobile phones that they sold are attached to the Verizon or Sprint or Bell Canada wireless networks.
What Apple has announced is their plan to deliver a software developer's kit for the iPhone in early 2008. This has certainly excited the software development community and for me, even the FMC market. I wrote an open letter to my CEO friends of the major FMC companies encouraging them to figure it out. The iPhone user interface is much too good to be left to consumers alone.
So, we can expect that innovators the world over see what I see and are preparing their software engineers to jump on the bandwagon and get in. The Apple development framework is an awesome experience and I wouldn't expect anything less than an integrated solution from Steve Jobs. Use Apple OS and free Apple X-code tools to build products for Apple computers, iPods and now iPhones. Nice. Innovation. Clean UI. Elegant code.
