Apple has applied for a patent for “provisioning” services on a mobile device based on a custom carrier profile:

Carrier provisioning profiles are distributed to computing devices via an activation service during the provisioning process. The carrier provisioning profiles specify access limitations to certain device resources which may otherwise be available to users of the device.

What this all means for the carriers is that Apple could essentially give them control of approved and unapproved features and applications that come on the iPhone at the point of purchase. So if Verizon (or China) were to carry the iPhone and they see …

Read the original:
Patent Watch: Apple Wants to Lock Down Your iPhone

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 7:55 am and is filed under iPhone News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.