According to the New York Times, the Egyptian iPhone 3G comes with GPS disabled. That's right -- one of the second-generation iPhone's killer features is switched off.
We'll skip the politics here -- we're a gadget blog after all. The interesting thing for us is that this tweak, along with the Japanese "pervert alert", an extra-loud camera shutter sound to betray the antics of up-skirt shooters, shows that Apple is willing to change its devices for overseas acceptance.
Has Apple done this before? I can't think of any other products that Apple has either added or removed features from (if I'm wrong, let me us know in the comments). While changes to keyboard layouts and power plugs are obviously necessary, they don't change function. Disabling GPS (it's a "military prerogative") and adding a perv alarm, on the other hand, clearly affect the capabilities and experience of using the iPhone.
Presumably these extras are added in firmware -- it seems very unlikely that Apple has a minion with a soldering iron at the end of the production line, frying the chips of iPhones destined for Egypt. And if we make that presumption, then it sems likely that the GPS can be switched on again.
From that point of view, the crippling of GPS looks a lot like DRM, a "feature" which only inconveniences the honest and those unable to work around it. Any terrorist or other non-military ne'erdowell is likely to either circumvent the locks or just buy elsewhere. A TomTom can't be too hard to bring into the country, can it?
So, if we rank this along with DRM, we can see that it's not at all unusual for Apple to be a willing partner. Look at the iTunes Store. Look at Fair Play-protected applications. Look at the new Mini DisplayPort connectors encumbered by HDCP protection. Do you spot a trend here?
The Freedoms That Technologies Help Bring [NYT]
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