O2 to unlock the iPhone?

O2 is keeping users guessing as to whether it will allow them to unlock their iPhones when their current contracts come to an end.

At present, the mobile giant is still the exclusive network for the iPhone in the UK, but some users have already by-passed O2's official line of not sanctioning unlocking by doing it themselves on the sly.

Both Orange and Vodafone recently announced that they will offer the iPhone on their networks by the end of the year and early 2010 respectively. As such, it seems O2 is mulling things over and still trying to decide whether or not it will provide parting customers with an unlock code to port their devices over to a competitor.

"We did not offer unlocking at the end of a customer's iPhone contract as we had the exclusive contract for the iPhone in the UK," an O2 spokesperson told The Register. "Obviously, that situation has changed... and we are currently working through what will happen."

IT PRO contacted O2 for more information about the comments, but while a spokesman confirmed they were genuine, he added that the company did not have anything further to add.

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.