To give an idea on how much this holds true: I have an old iphone lying around somewhere. It's a perfectly functioning device (barring the battery), I have a ca

To give an idea on how much this holds true: I have an old iphone lying around somewhere. It's a perfectly functioning device (barring the battery), I have a cable for it and everything. I wanted to use it as an audio player - plug an AUX cable in it, play some tunes. It's a good way to reuse older phones. Except I can't activate the fucking thing. It demands a SIM card. Trying to activate or reset it on PC just has iTunes spit out a generic failure message. Apparently it can't contact some activation server. I have a perfectly usable iPhone. Apple decided on its own that it's a brick now. It's irrevocably tied to the vendor.