[jhancock]

No reason to downvote you as its an opportunity for education. Not just for you but for almost everyone on both sides of this debate distracted and not focused on the core problem. The root of this matter is the FCC rules which prohibit tampering with devices. The only devices the FCC seems to allow unlocking are "dumbphones". The smart stuff gets special protection by laws that were originally put in place for DRM and national security.

The U.S. is building economies around government sponsored anti-competitive measures. Apple along with just about every device manufacturer and cellular carrier petitions the FCC to keep these regulations in place.

A good chunk of Apple's current market value assumes the government will keep these rules in place. Without these rules, Apple's developer agreements and cut of app and ad revenue would be normalized by competition; real free-market competition. The longer we wait to address this core problem, the worse it gets and the harder it is to move away from. Can you imagine the calls a senator or FCC insider will get when this problem finally is forced on their agenda? The lobbyist for state teachers' unions will call to let them know that removing the protections may cause Apple shares to drop 35% causing the union's pension fund to lose $20 million overnight causing a cut in insurance supplements supplied by the union. Removing the protections would have incalculable network effects.

[neurotech1]

From what I understand, most smart phones have a baseband processor, separate from the application processor.

The FCC should allow application hacking eg. Android, but still restrict the baseband processor code as designed.