Back in June 2010, Steve Jobs was visited by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who came to Silicon Valley as part of an “origins of success” visit. It was President Medvedev’s hope that he could take back with him the knowledge to produce a Russian version of Silicon Valley. Unbeknownst to President Medvedev he was destined to not only take back his acquired knowledge, but an iPhone 4 as a gift from Steve Jobs.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be one small problem with the gift from Jobs. The smartphone doesn’t work in Russia. Why? Because the iPhone 4 that he was given was locked to the AT&T network. As much as AT&T likes to tout their national footprint, that footprint is limited to the United States.
The details behind the AT&T locked iPhone 4 were recently devulged by President Medvedev’s Assistant, Arkady Dvorkovich. Dvorkovich announced Jobs’ embarassing misstep over Twitter in response to an inquiry by another member.
Read more at 9to5Mac
Brian’s Opinion
In fairness to Steve Jobs, perhaps the AT&T locked iPhone was a gesture to the Russian President to encourage him to return soon to the U.S. in a symbolic outstretched hand of friendship. Okay, you’re right, this was just an epic fail. It would have been better to give the President something he could use like an iPod touch and a $25 iTunes gift card.
Instead, every time President Medvedev fires up his souvenir from Apple headquarters he can remember his visit with Steve Jobs and the fact the man can’t even hand him a working iPhone. Well, at least some Americans can now stand in solidarity with the Russian President. After all, his AT&T coverage sucks as well.
