SynApps The Open Source and Gadget blog

July 11, 22:22pm: One day of vacation

Spent some time fighting with my son (11) on who gets to play with the iPhone. Left for a 2-3wk vacation to France today so I had to load the iPhone before we left. It did cost me 2hrs to define the 7.320.000.000 bytes of stuff that go in the device. I wish it had 250GB, saves a lot of time to simply take everyting. UMTS is a major omission and I really hope this will be part of the Euro-iPhone launch "surprises".

July 10, 18:46pm: iPhone has arrived in Germany

After some major FedEx Snafu (self-inflicted) the iPhone finally made it to Berghausen. Customs was kind enough to collect the import charges (128EUR).

It comes in a sweet little box. This is the moment...

But unfortunately and as expected, it won't play with my German T-Mobile SIM - but the American AT&T SIM roams nicely into Germany.

But this will not hurt Apple's stock price (it actually went up 10% after the iPhone launch as people may think it meets expectactions.

(WiFi still works, even with the T-Mobile card)

My first impression: It meets my expectations and it certainly is the gadget of the year. Go, Apple, go - force some innovation in the mobile phone market!

July 3, 22:58pm:

Hendrik found something:

The iPhone is locked to AT&T. Right now, a bunch of phone "hackers" worldwide are looking for a method to remove the SIM lock. The problem is: even if they succeed, the phone part may work but the iTunes part may not. Apparently the iTunes DRM activation is connected to the AT&T subscribing activation, meaning: if you don't subscribe to AT&T and at the same time activate the iTunes usage capability using your iTunes name or registering a new one, you basically hold a useless but stylish brick in your hand. Caution. I already know two guys in Germany who ordered one through eBay but right now, there is no solution for the SIM lock and iTunes activation. I doubt that the iPhone would permit an activation with an iTunes account registered in Germany or any other country than the US.

Check this link Gizmodo link before getting an iPhone, it actually explains what it can and can't.

Well, since I've never bought DRM'ed music I wouldn't care much about music not playing. But breaking the activation will be an issue. tbc...

July 3, 22:07pmCET:

Waiting has it's advantages as it gives Hackers time to work on a few things. German Heise reports that efforts have started to get into the iPhone and to crack the provider lock. There is a Wiki that seems so popular already that they are asking not to be Digg'ed etc :)

July 3, 15:26pmCET:

While I am waiting for FexEx I am more and more astounded about what an iPhone can do:

June 30, 22:30pmCET, June 30, 3:30pmEST:

Uh oh, problem. According to heise the iPhone, in addition to requiring a U.S. social security number, has a SIM lock. Hmm. Hackers - rejoice!

June 30, 16:00pmCET, June 30, 10:00amEST:

Talked to Anna, they really have it but could not get it activated yesterday as all Apple servers were swamped. They finally managed to get it going now but they won't send it as they are going to a family reunion and want to show off a little. Well, I guess I understand that :) but it means I have to wait a few more days...

June 30, 15:00pmCET, June 30, 9:00amEST:

My lovely nice Anna-Lena is currently visiting Pauls Family. From her blog I can read progress - they got the last 8Gig iPhone they had, yipee!

June 30, 0:25amCET, June 29, 6:25pmEST:

Paul just called. He is waiting in line in the AT&T store in Scarsdale, NY. He sais thes are letting people in in chunks of 10. He may be number 50 or so, so a few more hours and he'll be buying me an iPhone and FexEx it to Germany. Lets see how that goes.

The iPhone is coming and everybody (including me) is all excited thanks to Apples super-efficient hype machine led by El Jobso. I know that. But I want an iPhone anyway. Unfortunately I am in Germany so I need some help