This is a puzzle.
Apple is closing a long-standing loophole that allowed customers to buy an unlocked iPhone while on a payment plan.
The new rule change affects iPhones bought using Verizon or T-Mobile financing.
Previously, handsets purchased through these providers were unlocked on day one, which meant they could be used on any compatible network.
By contrast, AT&T (the iPhone’s original exclusive carrier) locks iPhones to its network until they are paid off.
The change brings T-Mobile and Verizon into sync with AT&T.
There are a couple of puzzling bits about this whole thing:
How come I never knew this? I’ve been a T-Mobile customer forever, and had no idea that financed iPhones were unlocked from the get-go.
Why now? It’s been nearly two decades, after all.
The best guess is to clamp down on fraud. Shady characters could buy iPhones on a payment plan, but sell them unlocked before the plan was paid off.
But I dunno — surely the difficulty of qualifying for carrier-financed payment plans would make this a fairly limited scam?
Anyone got a better idea? Details are here, and take today’s poll about the subject below.
I had to use something weighty for the lead post, but here’s the real big news of the day.
Can you imagine AirPods with stalks the size of AA batteries? Luckily, a proposed EU rule change makes that unlikely.
The iPad mini is too small and fiddly for my King Charles-like sausage fingers, but it has its fans. I Googled it, and this is a good price for a refurbished model, if you have skinny digits.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Nomad’s great anniversary sale offers site-wide savings on all kinds of luxe Apple accessories. Damn, that Stratos band! #affiliate
It’s back-to-school season, and Apple’s sale offering is once again kinda meh.
At first glance, banning plumbers from advertising in Apple Maps is another puzzler, but it does make sense.
Apple’s developing a new early warning system for dodgy iMessages — trouble is, it’ll probably look just like dodgy iMessages.
This was always a BS lawsuit.
We went hands-on with a “brilliant” and beefy battery pack that’s more like a personal generator. It has a great feature we’ve not seen before in big fat power packs.
The comments on yesterday’s poll yielded a new insult for Facebook I’d not heard before. Now I can’t stop laughing about it. See below.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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One more thing ...
[On the origin of the name “Apple”] I was on one of my fruitarian diets. I had just come back from the apple farm. It sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating. “Apple” took the edge off the world “computer.” Plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book.
Today’s poll
Why did Apple close the Verizon/T-Mobile loophole now?
Results from yesterday’s poll:
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