Thursday, June 12, 2008
Cracking the iPhone in Italy
A few days ago, while I was in Italy, I met a journalist of Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian equivalent of the Financial Times. We had lunch and talked about a million things, among them the iPhone. Tuesday, he wrote an article about me where he pretty much stated that I cracked the iPhone... A bit too much, but journalists like hyperboles.The same day my mom read the article and asked me what cracking meant and whether I stole something, with a slight worry I could go to jail. Considering the software was called Jailbreak, she wasn't too far from reality. I felt bad but I assured her I did not steal anything and that I am definitely not a hacker: I wish I could be one but I lack the skills for it.
Then on Skype I received a request to connect from Zibri. He is THE guy who made it all happen. The one who gives us Ziphone and allowed third party apps to be easily installed on iPhones. I was surprised at first, then shocked when I noticed he was asking for a connection in Italian.
Is Zibri Italian? Did the iPhone freedom derive from there?
Yep, he is. He lives in Rome. A friend of him read the article and asked him "who the heck is that guy who said he cracked the iPhone, didn't you do it?". Oopss. I had a nice chat with Piergiorgio (he did not call me to complain after all...) and I hope we'll do something together soon. He definitely seems a skilled individual :-)
Anyway, glad to hear that Italy is ahead of the pack in mobile once again. I had no doubts, but I still have to fight that perception every day. As quoted in the article, I had someone recently who asked me "Yeah, Ferrari looks great, you can tell it is Italian. But where do they get the engine from?". No, we do not get them from Germany. They are built in Italy, as Maserati, Ducati, Aprilia and more. They are the most reliable in the world. And the electronics too. On every Formula One car. We have the best engineers in the world, but we do not advertise them as we should. It is a high priority on my task list: it has to change. I am fed up with being know just for making pizza and clothes ;-)
Posted by Fabrizio at 17:36
8 Comments:
Rolando said...
Hard task you've chosen ... trying to do that in Switzerland since 8 years, not so easy ... But we'll manage ... Come al solito passi per l'Europa ma un giro nella Confederazione, lato ovest mai???
Comment Posted at 03:31
Read about Funambol on Sole 24 ore
Interested in a job in Pavia
I'm not experienced in software
Are you looking for a woman on the rope?
best regards
cristina
Comment Posted at 08:40
Fabrizio said...
Ciao Cristina,
we do have many female tight-rope walkers in the company, but we are always looking for more (it is tough to find female engineers, but they are usually better than their male counterparts ;-). Please send your resume to jobs@funambol.com.
Cheers,
fabrizio
Comment Posted at 08:51
Zibri said...
Hey !
At least spell my name correctly !
It's Piergiorgio :)
Lol !
Nice chat.
Even if I agree about your thought about the wrong advertising of italian 'brains' I have to admit I just bought a Mercedes :)
But if someone want to donate a ferrari I will gladly accept it :)
Comment Posted at 16:02
sent it yesterday
see you soon
cristina
Comment Posted at 05:14
Mordy said...
Fab, you forgot my favorite Italian stereotype:
Zany Plumbers who have adventures in Video Games.
Yeah, I never really understood that one either.
Comment Posted at 11:48
Fabo!
Congatulations on the $12.5M investment to Funambol from here, Finland :-)
//Kari
Comment Posted at 02:14
Hi.
Just read this post from BigBoss, "Why Avoid Ziphone?" [link]
I'm not endorsing this (don't know enough about the subject, didn't check the facts, and ZiPhone worked for my Touch), however I thought it may somehow belong to this thread.
Regards
