And three 8GB new iPhones

Aug 29, 2007 08:52 GMT  ·  By

Just how much is an unlocked iPhone worth? More than anyone might have expected, as such a hacked handset has been traded for a Nissan 350Z and three 8GB brand new iPhones. That is just one more from the long line of crazy things that people have done for this "wonder phone" coming from Apple.

George Hotz, the 17 year-old hacker that has managed to unlock the iPhone after 500 hours of work, has just made his first major profit from his achievement. Terry Daidone, co-founder of CertiCell, a Kentucky-based mobile-phone repair company, has agreed on paying the teenager a Nissan 350Z and three 8GB brand new iPhones for his unlocked one. Moreover, he also promised him a paid consulting job that is meant to make him capable of handling the unlocking procedure with no additional help.

George Hotz initially put the unlocked iPhone up for auction on eBay, but some jokers drove the price up to USD 99 million, which got it ceased. The overall price for the Nissan 350Z and the three iPhones goes somewhere around USD 30,000. That's surely the biggest salary that the teenager has received until now, but has high chances of being surpassed in the future if leading software companies take him in, as it usually happens with young, promising talents.

A huge number of comments on the hackers' blog have already appeared on his announcement concerning the offer that he has decided to take from CertiCell. Most of them look to congratulate the young man, while others see much greater profits to have been possible from his first unlocked iPhone sale. It's unfortunate that the eBay auction has been stopped, as its result might have managed to bring even a larger profit in George Hotz's pockets.

The teenager promises to work on the iPhone from now on too, although not for hacking it. At this time, he is doing some consulting work for Certicell and Puremobile, but also working on a new project. This concerns the use of triangulation from cell phone towers in order to put GPS in the iPhone.