iPhone hacker rewarded

8/30/2007
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The device was made to work only on AT&T's network.
The device was made to work only on AT&T's network.

SAN FRANCISCO - The teenage hacker who enabled the iPhone to be used with cellular networks other than AT&T will be trading his reworked gadget for a new car.

George Hotz, of Glen Rock, N.J., said he had reached the deal with CertiCell, a Louisville mobile phone repair company.

He posted on his blog that he traded his modified iPhone for "a sweet Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones."

The 17-year-old said he will be sending the iPhones to the three online collaborators who helped him divorce Apple Inc.'s popular product from AT&T's network. The job took 500 hours, or about 8 hours a day since the iPhone's June 29 launch.

Terry Daidone, co-founder of CertiCell, also promised the teen a paid consulting job. "We do not have any plans on the table right now to commercialize Mr. Hotz's discovery," he said in a statement.