All,

as you will have heard unlocked and providerfree iPhones will be sold at T-mobile Germany. As a result of a legal case T-mobile was forced to offer iPhones which are not Sim-locked and therefore open to be used with any provider, but the case is still open, so the unlocked iPhones might just be sold for a certain periode of time.
The costs as planned will be 999 Euro, which means nearly 1500 $.
My question is related to the effects of this on the iPhones currently used without Apple's designated provider-contract. I for myself am using one here in Singapore with a Singtel contract, working fine.

Will there now be updates available by Apple which will not brick your phone?
Will there be two different updates for those with a contract with extra features?
Will this mean anysim is not needed anymore and only a jailbreak to ensure that you are able to use the 3rd party apps?
Do you still have to activate your phone?

Does anybody has an idea, I mean it would be great to do an update and the thing is still working, maybe in the beginning without 3rd party apps until the installer is available on the phone.

nope
nope
nope
nope (not till the sdk is released)
yes

OK I hoped that it would mean a step forward to the freedom of the user

I don't see any difference between these locked and unlocked iPhones. Look at it, you will still needs iTunes to activate the "unlocked" phones just like the "locked" phones.

The only difference is that you can use any other SIMs. Based on the 1.1.2 AppSupport, the unlock will probably works in Germany, France, UK and US. It will utilize the UnknownCarrier.plist.

For some reason, I thought this would be a big deal for the hacked iPhones community.

Why would it not be as simple as figuring out the "official" unlock and applying that to our hacked iPhones? Wouldn't that make them impervious to bricking?

that's right ..
$1500 ?? it doesnt make any sense
who would be soo silly and go and get one ?
might as well do the unlock ourselves .

$1500 does make sense. They don't want people to get unlocked phones. And what's the best way to stop people from buying these unlocked phones? You guessed it.. a $1500 price tag.

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iPhone (OTB 1.1.1 / Currently 3.1)
Unlock, activation, jailbreak: PwnageTool 3.1
City Fido, Vancouver