Home
›
News
›
Want to legally unlock your iPhone? E-mail Tim Cook!

Want to legally unlock your iPhone? E-mail Tim Cook!

Posted: 21 Mar 2012, 22:07, by Michael H.

Discuss 13

Want to legally unlock your iPhone? E-mail Tim Cook!

Okay, maybe this tactic won't work for everyone, and likelihood has it that the more people that try, the fewer will get their wish, but at the very least, CEO Tim Cook has reached out for one iPhone owner and forced AT&T to help the man unlock his device.

The story goes like this: a man and his family are deep into Apple products, owning various iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macs. The man gets transferred to Canada for work. His wife had an iPhone 3Gs, and luckily her contract finished as they were moving to Canada. So, the man bought his wife an iPhone 4 upon moving to Canada, and took the 3Gs for himself as a personal option to his work phone (a BlackBerry), but it was locked to AT&T, so he couldn't use it in Canada. He contacted AT&T to get help with the problem, and he was told to contact Apple, who in turn routed him back to AT&T. An AT&T rep told him to "just jailbreak [his] phone", but he didn't want to do that because he didn't want to "stray" from "Apple's curated experience".

Finally, the man wrote a letter directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook explaining the situation. Soon, AT&T called the man saying Apple had requested his device be unlocked. That was that, he was in possession of a legally unlocked AT&T iPhone. And, it didn't end there. Apparently, Tim Cook then had his special assistant call the man's family to ensure that AT&T had followed through on the request.

As we said, it may not work for everyone, but it's nice to see that Tim Cook at least reads his e-mail and takes action, even if he has yet to personally respond as we saw a number of times from Steve Jobs.

source: 9to5Mac via The Verge

Discuss13

Apple iPhone 4 allegedly catches on fire while charging overnight 21 Mar
Prev news

13.3" Toshiba AT330 tablet caught on camera at Toshiba World 2012 21 Mar
Next news

13 Comments
Follow Following

Options

Want to comment? Please login or register.

1. -box- posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:16 0 11

This person, knowing he was going to Canada, should have sold the locked phone and either bought an unlocked one from Apple or gotten one from a Canadian carrier. It's called "moving expenses". What a whiner.

2. clevername posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:19 5 0

Pretty cool. I understand not wanting to jailbreak. On an iPhone 3g jailbreaking really slows it down and drains the battery.

3. W.P._Android_in_that_Order posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:26 1 0

I agree.

4. TheRetroReplay posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:55 5 0

Now that is freaking awesome

5. stealthd posted on 21 Mar 2012, 23:00 0 0

It's not illegal to unlock through the other methods. What's ridiculous though is that AT&T refuses to unlock the iPhone when the only other place you can take it in the US is T-Mobile, where you'll get a cheaper plan at the expense of a fraction of the coverage and no 3G (since the iPhone doesn't support AWS).

6. Droid_X_Doug posted on 21 Mar 2012, 23:00 4 0

Props to Tim Cook for going to bat for the customer. But I am trying to understand how AT&T gets to refuse to unlock the phone at the conclusion of the 2 year contract period.

7. kanagadeepan posted on 22 Mar 2012, 00:37 2 4

OMG... What will be the fun if iPhone is NOT jail-broken????

8. drtech (banned) posted on 22 Mar 2012, 00:38 3 2

Awesome story. This is why people love Apple!

9. cncrim posted on 22 Mar 2012, 00:58 0 4

Nice story, but doesn't make sense. Why Tim Cooker go through all the trouble call ATT blah blah....? why can he just switch unlock one with non-unlock one and it's done deal save his time for something bigger and more important.

Fabrication story.

10. tmcr7 posted on 22 Mar 2012, 06:17 3 1

The stupid guy should've just sold his iphone and bought a galaxy s2. He doesnt know what he's missing.

11. sheepygalaxy posted on 22 Mar 2012, 07:37 0 0

when ever you take out a contract with any carrier once your contract is up that phone is completely yours so the network as to unlock it.This as always been the same well in the uk anyway

12. j.bene posted on 22 Mar 2012, 14:29 0 0

I too want a special assistant!

13. medicci37 posted on 23 Mar 2012, 11:17 0 0

Not a apple fan, but it's nice 2 know that Cook isn't as arrogant & uncaring as his mentor.

Want to comment? Please login or register.

Samsung Galaxy S4
- Announced: 14 Mar 2013
- OS: Android 4.2.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1900 MHz, Krait 300, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
Apple iPhone 5
- Announced: 12 Sep 2012
- OS: iOS
- Hardware: Dual core, 1300 MHz, Apple Swift, 1016 MB RAM
- Display: 4.0 inches, 640 x 1136 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900), CDMA (800 1700/2100 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS EV-DO Rev.A EV-DO Rev.B
Samsung GALAXY Note II
- Announced: 29 Aug 2012
- OS: Android 4.1.2 4.1.1
- Hardware: Quad core, 1600 MHz, ARM Cortex-A9, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.5 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 35 hours of Talk Time, 980 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 21.1 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
HTC One
- Announced: 19 Feb 2013
- OS: Android 4.1.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1700 MHz, Krait 300, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 4 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900), CDMA (800 1900)
- Data: LTE HSPA (unspecified) UMTS EDGE GPRS
Sony Xperia Z
- Announced: 07 Jan 2013
- OS: Android 4.1.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13.1 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 11 hours of Talk Time, 550 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
Google Nexus 4
- Announced: 29 Oct 2012
- OS: Android 4.2.2 4.2.1 4.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 15.3 hours of Talk Time, 390 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
LG Optimus G
- Announced: 28 Aug 2012
- OS: Android 4.1.2 4.0.4
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 15 hours of Talk Time, 335 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE HSPA (unspecified) UMTS EDGE GPRS
Nokia Lumia 920
- Announced: 05 Sep 2012
- OS: Windows Phone 8
- Hardware: Dual core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 1024 MB RAM
- Display: 4.5 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8.7 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 17 hours of Talk Time, 400 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS

Carriers

Manufacturers

Phone tools

Carriers

Manufacturers

Tablet tools

Phone Links

Want to legally unlock your iPhone? E-mail Tim Cook!

Share:

Share:

13 Comments Follow Following

1. -box- posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:16 0 11

2. clevername posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:19 5 0

3. W.P._Android_in_that_Order posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:26 1 0

4. TheRetroReplay posted on 21 Mar 2012, 22:55 5 0

5. stealthd posted on 21 Mar 2012, 23:00 0 0

6. Droid_X_Doug posted on 21 Mar 2012, 23:00 4 0

7. kanagadeepan posted on 22 Mar 2012, 00:37 2 4

8. drtech (banned) posted on 22 Mar 2012, 00:38 3 2

9. cncrim posted on 22 Mar 2012, 00:58 0 4

10. tmcr7 posted on 22 Mar 2012, 06:17 3 1

11. sheepygalaxy posted on 22 Mar 2012, 07:37 0 0

12. j.bene posted on 22 Mar 2012, 14:29 0 0

13. medicci37 posted on 23 Mar 2012, 11:17 0 0

Popular stories

Hot Phones

Interesting stories

Make your Samsung Galaxy S4 sound better with Adapt Sound

Samsung officials confirm 5.9-inch Note III will come at IFA

All from Google I/O 2013

Nokia Lumia 925 - thinnest WP8 smartphone to date

The forbidden fruit: 7 great apps Google does not allow on Play store

Google I/O 2013 is coming, but what will it bring?

10 great personalization apps for Android

Verizon's Nokia Lumia 928 vs AT&T's Nokia Lumia 920

13 Comments
Follow Following