iPhone is no better than an iPod in South Africa

The iPhone remains useless in South Africa despite the controversial hacking of its exclusive service provider in the US and Australia last week.



South Africa’s major service providers were yesterday adamant the phone could only be used as an iPod or Internet communicator in this country.


Local cellphone retail stores and service providers have been inundated with calls from customers interested in buying the multi-purpose gadget, which is available in the US exclusively to AT&T customers.


Hackers, however, claimed to be able to unlock the Apple iPhone code which allows users to use the $599 (R4400) phone with cellular providers other than the AT&T Wireless Network.


Nicholas Maweni, spokesman for Virgin Mobile South Africa, said scores of customers had shown interest in the phone asking when will it be available in the country.


“We are currently in talks with relevant parties seeking ways to make the phone available to our customers.

“We are hoping the global strength of our brand will help. We will not do things through the back door,” said Maweni.

Greg Hill, product marketing manager for Apple South Africa, said he could not yet say when iPhone would be available to local users legally.

“The only information we have is that the iPhone has been released in the US and has been embraced by customers and is scheduled to be rolled out to Europe later this year.”

The iPhone made headlines after reports that at least four different hacker groups had cracked AT&T’s lock on the cellular service.

The multimedia and Internet- enabled cellphone designed and sold by Apple has been available in the US since the end of June.

On top of the normal extras found on cellphones, such as a camera and texting function, it also has a liquid crystal display touch screen and a virtual keyboard.
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