It can also be used to store and play music and videos,as well as for viewing your favorite photos.The iPhone offers a huge variety of applications(commonly known as iPhone Apps,Apple Apps,Apple iPhone Apps,or just Apps) that are spread in a multitude of domains such as gaming,social-networking,GPS,and many others.These applications can be obtained only through the official Apple online store,and only Apple approved Apps function on the device.The webstore registered over 20.000 official apps,which are more or less useful,depending on the client's needs.
There are currently four generations of the iPhone available,named the iPhone,the iPhone 3G,the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.Even tough every model brought something new and somehow innovative,there are a few essential features that are characteristic to all iPhones,and have survived all four generations,like the size of the device's screen,or the alignment and positioning of the buttons.In order to use the multimedia and internet features that come with the iPhone,you must first activate it as a mobile phone with a proper carrier,like another phone.
However,on July 3,2007,a man named Jon Lech Johnson succeeded in bypassing this requirement and unlocked the phone with the help of some software and editing of the iTunes binary.He later posted the needed tools and a tutorial on his personal blog,where he explained how anyone can accomplish what he has.The iPhone 3G however,turned out to be a tougher nut to crack,as it couldn't be unlocked as its predecessor,but the hackers succeeded in the end and unlocked it as well.The reason for which it was harded to hack is that opposing the first iPhone,it needed an in-store activation.
The requirement of this in-store activation,and the huge number of clients that were updating to the second version of the device's operating software system,the OS 2.0(original called iOS) caused Apple's servers to overload.Updating to OS 2.0 required an activation,and this made many iPhone unavailable for use for a small amount of time,therefore customers got quite upset with the company.The problem was solved only when the iPhone 3GS came out,as in the same date of July 11,2008,Apple released the OS 3.0.
Most iPhones are sold with a SIM Lock that restricts access to the phone for a particular carrier,as Apple adopted a practice commonly known at subsidized GSM phones.Opposing the GSM phones however,the iPhone could not be activated by introducing a specific code or serial number.Hackers succeded in the end(as they always do)to register the iPhones from different networks,as Apple speculates this was done after the phones were shipped over the sea.
The iPhones were original registered to AT&T for U.S.AT&T begun selling the phones without contracts at double price,as this way both AT&T and Apple lose the differed income.