Originally Posted by Draken

...
Rontonic, if they released a video, all the doubters would still find a way to say its a fake video.

Good points draken. But it would be good to have a video that actually shows the whole process, from a sim locked phone to an unlocked one. A video that wasn't a "filmed on my mobile late at night by myself"- video...

I'll go with it being a real unlock just because of Engadget, but that doesn't mean it's not a "scam". Scam doesn't mean a solution isn't working, but it means they are trying to milk it as much as possible.

Basically you have a product which becomes worthless the moment you release it. Why? Because in the IT world it is impossible to release a piece of software without having it copied/hacked/reverse engineered. Imagine they release this and sell it for $50... 5 minutes after the first sale it's all over the Internet, for free.

So what do you do? You build hype, mystery, and play on human emotions. You get people emotionally invested and hooked, and then you take pre-orders before delivering the product. You make as much money as you can BEFORE releasing the product, because you know it will be worthless the moment it is on thepiratebay.

So it is a scam, but not in terms of what everyone here is arguing about (real/fake). It's a scam because even if it's real, they made lots of money where they should've made none.

Draken...

1. Perhaps Engadget were fooled by the scam? I know they must be hard to fool, but professional con artists can fool a lot of good and competent people...

2. Funny how they released this just after the Hardware lock was released...

3. My guess is that they will wait until money has landed on their account (then you can't get it back).

4. They moved to a server out of US to become anonymous or hard to find, and most difficult, to get money back.

My opinion is that it looks like they are scammers... Also I think Steve Jobs will release a surprise on sep 5th...

he will release a unlock tool for US$ 149,00

Originally Posted by rontonic

Good points draken. But it would be good to have a video that actually shows the whole process, from a sim locked phone to an unlocked one. A video that wasn't a "filmed on my mobile late at night by myself"- video...

What is this with using mobile to film stuff... it looks HORRIBLE... doesn't anyone have a video cam or some friend that can borrow... Those guys at iphonesimfree are going to make gazillions of dollars and they can't buy/borrow a decent video camera?

I think you're confused with the Irish numb-nuts who are over at iphoneunlocking.com. They used a N95 phone to video it. Very amateurish.

O

wrong peopel man, that was iphoneunlocking, please read threads first.

Ok, sorry my bad. I read the threads, but it's not easy to keep track of everything these days.

C0h1b4...

1. Explain how u can fool someone OVER the INTERNET to believe THERE iphone is unlocked ? These ppl didnt meet with engadget, they did it over the phone+internet.

2. They needed the patch files that were only released at that time.

Originally Posted by Jack187

I'll go with it being a real unlock just because of Engadget, but that doesn't mean it's not a "scam". Scam doesn't mean a solution isn't working, but it means they are trying to milk it as much as possible.

Basically you have a product which becomes worthless the moment you release it. Why? Because in the IT world it is impossible to release a piece of software without having it copied/hacked/reverse engineered. Imagine they release this and sell it for $50... 5 minutes after the first sale it's all over the Internet, for free.

So what do you do? You build hype, mystery, and play on human emotions. You get people emotionally invested and hooked, and then you take pre-orders before delivering the product. You make as much money as you can BEFORE releasing the product, because you know it will be worthless the moment it is on thepiratebay.

So it is a scam, but not in terms of what everyone here is arguing about (real/fake). It's a scam because even if it's real, they made lots of money where they should've made none.

Totally disagree:

1) A Scam is when somebody tricks somebody else in paying for something that does not exist. It's somebody robbing someone else.
2) The fact that ISF, or anyone having a software solution, is trying to make as much money as possible, is not a scam. It's called free market. It's incredible that you even arrive close to think that somebody who is selling a software is scamming because sooner or later that software will be (illegaly) hacked and released for free. I mean, turn on the brain.

So

Originally Posted by vannibombonato

Totally disagree:

1) A Scam is when somebody tricks somebody else in paying for something that does not exist. It's somebody robbing someone else.
2) The fact that ISF, or anyone having a software solution, is trying to make as much money as possible, is not a scam. It's called free market. It's incredible that you even arrive close to think that somebody who is selling a software is scamming because sooner or later that software will be (illegaly) hacked and released for free. I mean, turn on the brain.

So

/me turns on the brain.

1- A "scam" by definition is "any fraudulent business scheme". "Fraud" in turn implies "deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair gain."

Therefore, all robberies are scams, but not all scams are robberies. A robbery is physical theft. Robbing someone implies physical displacement of items. Copyright infringement, for example, is not theft.

2- I think you need to retake Economics 101 because "free market" doesn't mean what you think it means, and is in effect irrelevant to this discussion. But nice work trying to make me say something I never did. Selling software is a scam because it will be illegally hacked? Unfortunately the world cannot be reduced to black & white elements, and metaphors detract from the greater picture. So let's break it down: ISM found a way to unlock the phone, but they cannot distribute the method without teaching it to other people. So they are withholding knowledge, the universal currency which in most doctrines and faiths shall be made free and shared for the betterment of humanity. They are not withholding innovation, physical creations, or intellectual property.

Basic psychology dictates that you are trying to make yourself feel better about paying the "scammers", by--I said this before--being emotionally invested, and defending them. Of course that is your right to freely do, just as it is my right to share my opinion on this forum, and your right to continue to respond rudely (this scenario is commonly known as a flamewar on the internets)

That's what you get for asking me to turn on the brain