During Apple"s fourth-quarter fiscal 2007 earnings conference call, Apple COO Tim Cook revealed that some 250,000 (18%) of all iPhones sold since the devices were released in June have been unlocked. A total of 1.4 million iPhones have been sold, and the remaining 82% are using AT&T, the sole U.S. carrier for the iPhone. According to various online sources, Cook told analysts that these one-quarter million phones were sold to buyers who intended to unlock them at the outset.
Cook also warned that Apple won"t let those unlocked phones remain workable for long. Apple has been playing a game of tug of war with hackers who consistently work around Apple"s firmware updates that disable unlocked U.S. phones. On the other hand, Apple plans to comply with French consumer laws, despite agreements with Orange, its exclusive carrier in France, by introducing an unlocked iPhone.