Apple iPhone unlocked — so what!

The blogosphere and the online news sites are full of reports that the iPhone has been untethered from the AT&T SIM chip. Not by any decision from either Apple or AT&T but through the efforts a various individuals and independent groups that have been trying to do this from day one of its introduction.

Of course, this frees an iPhone user from AT&T service and allows them to buy cell phone service from any carrier.

As interesting as the news might be there really is no great significance to the story.

For individual users who want to bother and take the chance that they don’t destory their iPhone when they remove the AT&T SIM chip, the unlocking may be noteworthy.

But in the scheme of things it is no big deal for a number of reasons.

As Gerry Purdy, chief analyst for Frost & Sullivan told me, the long term objective of Apple has got to be that any SIM card would work in an iPhone.

“It is in their best interest that everyone who is on GSM to use the iPhone,” Purdy said.

Of course, AT&T was hoping to use its exlusive contract deal with Apple to lure subscribers from competing services over to them, but in truth, as Purdy points out, that would have played out in a couple of years anyway and the carrier would be back looking for new products and services to lure potential subscribers.

For me the news is just another proof point that when it comes to high technology and public access, freedom of choice continues to be like a steamroller crushing anything in its path that tries to stop it.

As Purday says, at the end of the day, it wont be draconian walled gardens or other non-competitive schemes that will make a company a success. Today the only competitive differentiator that will work and last is superior technology.