Tada! The 6th Gen contract-free WiFi-enabled iPod
Oh man, what a day. Earlier today, I got my prepaid iPhone activated after a long struggle, which you can read about here, along with an easy solution. After all that, what time was it? Time To Hack! — So what did I discover?
Context & Ripple Effects
Days into the iPhone's life, a TUAW blogger has documented a long struggle to activate the handset on a prepaid account, then pushed further and repackaged the result as something new: a "6th generation" contract-free, WiFi-enabled iPod built from an iPhone. The framing matters more than the label — the hack severs Apple's hardware from the carrier commitment it was designed to require, letting the device function as a premium WiFi media player and browser for anyone unwilling to sign up for cellular service.
First-order effects
- An iPhone bought at full price and activated this way delivers its WiFi browsing, music, and media features with no carrier contract attached — effectively a new product category assembled from existing hardware.
- Other early adopters get a documented, repeatable path: the same blogger who worked through prepaid activation is publishing the steps, lowering the barrier for non-expert owners.
Second-order effects
- Every buyer who takes this route removes a handset from the postpaid contract pipeline, eroding the bundled hardware-plus-service economics that underpin the iPhone's carrier arrangement.
- Hobbyist forums become a distribution channel for contract avoidance faster than Apple or its carrier partner can patch, forcing the companies to choose between tolerating it and waging an update-by-update fight against their most enthusiastic customers.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, carrier-locked phones stop being sealed appliances and become raw hardware that the hacker community re-purposes — pressuring Apple and its carrier partners toward officially sanctioned flexibility or a sustained arms race over software locks.
The trend: User hacking is prising mobile handsets apart from exclusive carrier contracts, with the iPhone emerging as the highest-profile test case.