Temporarily unlock your iPhone for $99
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A new software-based unlocking scheme for your iPhone makes it easier for those of us without soldering skills to leave AT&T. But the good times probably won't last.
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Apple Inc.  said on Tuesday  its hotly anticipated iPhone could cost up to $3,000 with a  required two-year service contract, but that didn't stop a  handful of admirers from starting to wait to buy the device.
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How badly do you want an iPhone? Would you pay US$1,500 to buy one? How about $300 for someone to wait on line for you?
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Just a day after a commercial company started selling an iPhone unlock hack, a hacker group released a free, open-source version.
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Blog: After some false starts, unlocking an iPhone now seems to be a reality.
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A workaround has been developed that provides a round-about method of enabling iPhone users to make free calls via Skype.
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Apple warned that iPhone owners who have used unauthorized programs to unlock the cellular service feature of their handsets may end up with a phone that does not work.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple'sÂ iPhone launchÂ has been marred by delays in AT&T's phone activation system, leaving some people unable to use their new toy throughout the weekend. People who buy the iPhone, which went on sale in the U.S. Friday evening, are required to activate it through Apple's iTunes software on their home computer. They choose a rate plan, authorize their credit card number, and the phone should be activated soon after. Apple has said the process should take only a few minutes for people being assigned a new phone number, and "up to six hours" for people transferring a number from another operator. But for some the wait has been much longer, according to postings on Apple's iPhone message board and elsewhere. "It has now been 48 hours and my iPhone is still the prettiest paperweight I own," wrote one frustrated user. "Nightmare indeed," said another. "I've been waiting 11+ hours now. I got the phone after a somewhat reasonable one-hour wait at the Albany, NY store, then spent 4+ hours talking to AT&T and Apple trying to get the thing activated." Others said their phone was activated in a matter of minutes. AT&T was not available to comment in Europe on Monday morning, and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An AT&T spokesman told the Wall Street Journal newspaper that most activations were occurring in a few minutes, and that the operator was working to fix the remaining issues. An unnamed source told the paper that about 2 percent of users were being affected. The delays cast a shadow over what appears -- so far -- to have been an otherwise successful launch of the iPhone. The device sells for $500 or $600 depending on the amount of memory on board, plus an activation fee and the cost of the service plan from AT&T, which for now has exclusive distribution rights for the iPhone in the U.S. When people buy a new cell phone the device is usually activated in the shop where they buy it. Apple and AT&T had billed the self-activation process as "another example of how AT&T and Apple have partnered to bring innovative new features to our customers." Opinions were divided as to where to lay blame. An iPhone buyer who claimed to work for AT&T said in a message posting that delays were inevitable and not the fault of either company. Thousands were trying to activate their new phone simultaneously over the weekend, the person noted, and the activation requests were lining up at AT&T's network switches "like 30,000 or so people throwing basketballs at one hoop and hoping to make it in." Others said AT&T should have lined up additional capacity for the activations. Some said they expected the problems to be ironed out by next week and the incident to be forgotten. "Activation is going to happen eventually. Why did you invest so much of your time and energy in this?" one person wrote on Apple's board. "Life is too short to worry about this type of thing." There were some other gripes about the iPhone, although it was hard to tell how widespread issues are. Several users complained that the phone's iPod function stopped playing music when they used it as the same time as the Safari Web browser or Google Maps. Others complained of a bug that caused the e-mails they sent via GMail to appear in their inbox. Other users, including a person who responded to a posting on the iPhoneFAQ.org Web, said they were unable to transfer an AT&T business account to their iPhone, and were told they would have to start a new, individual account.
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iPhone buyers can get a credit if Apple reduces the price within ten calendar days of shipment.
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If you aren't afraid of a little tinkering, you can get that "Hey Ya" or "Sexy Back" ringtone for your iPhone without paying the extra bucks to Apple.
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(InfoWorld) - Two claims of unlocking Apple's iPhone have surfaced in recent days, and a third is set to be announced Saturday. One blogger, George Hotz, on Friday posted a step-by-step tutorial for unlocking the iPhone that involves both hardware and software modifications. His blog also includes photos of an iPhone he said is unlocked and shows T-Mobile as the service provider. At another site, iPhoneSimFree.com, a company claims it can unlock iPhones through software only. A screen image with an item about the company on Engadget.com also shows an iPhone displaying the T-Mobile name. In addition, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, said his Belfast, U.K., company will be posting software on Saturday that iPhone users can download to unlock their handsets to work with any SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card on any network they choose. The software should hit the Web at www.iphoneunlocking.com between noon and 2 p.m. Eastern Time, he said. The iPhone is based on GSM, the most widely used cellular technology, but today, the hot phone is sold only in the U.S. and locked into AT&T's network. Unlocking would allow iPhone owners to break the required two-year contract with AT&T and choose their own GSM carriers. More importantly, it would allow people outside the U.S. to own and use the highly prized device. With an unlocked GSM phone, it's possible to change carriers by putting in a different SIM card. Uniquephones' McLaughlin said 450,000 users already had signed up at iphoneunlocking.com, which the company set up soon after the iPhone was released for people interested in having their iPhones unlocked. The Web site was not active at the time this story was written, but it should be reactivated Saturday with options for users to access the unlocking software, he said. McLaughlin plans to charge between $25 and $50 for the software, but users who had already signed up will have access to the code at either a 25 percent or 50 percent discount. Uniquephones will let people anywhere in the world download the software. The company already unlocks phones from many manufacturers, including Nokia and Motorola. There were about eight locks that Uniquephones engineers had to break in the iPhone software to come up with the code that will unlock the phones, and engineers in several countries had been working around the clock since the phone's release to do so. McLaughlin declined to go into great detail but said one of the most difficult locks to break was contained in the handset's electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. There also was a lock in the handset's permanent phone memory as well as other places in the iPhone's software. In the end, it was an engineer in Russia who came up with the software for unlocking the phone, McLaughlin said. McLaughlin claims he is using his iPhone on the Vodafone network in the U.K. He added that both Vodafone's network and the T-Mobile U.K. network allow iPhone users to download data faster on their iPhones than AT&T Wireless's network does. Although almost 100 percent of the iPhone's features work even when the handset is unlocked and using another carrier's SIM card, the Visual Voicemail feature will only work on AT&T's network because of the way the feature is designed, McLaughlin said. Visual Voicemail lets users easily view the messages that have been left for them. The iPhone has been a hot target for unlocking since its June 29 launch, both because of its advanced design and features and because AT&T has an unusual long-term exclusive relationship with Apple. It's common for U.S. mobile operators to lock the phones they sell, but in some cases, they will later unlock the phones free or for a small fee. On its site, iPhoneSimFree.com says it will start selling individual per-unit licenses for its unlocking software starting next week. The company will also accept inquiries for bulk purchases of 500 or more licenses. Hotz, who wrote that he is soon heading off to college, isn't offering to sell his technique but is auctioning on eBay what he claims is the world's second unlocked iPhone.
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Many of those who bought the iPhone early may be eligible for an Apple Store credit, to help make up the difference in the $200 price drop.
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(InfoWorld) - Less than a week after CEO Steve Jobs said that Apple wouldÂ fight hacksÂ that unlocked the iPhone, the company said any modification, unlocks included, voids the phone's warranty. Saying it had found that many of the unlocking programs "cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software," Apple spelled out the policy. "Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty," the company said in a statement. "The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty." Several unlock hacks are circulating, including the free open-source anySIM unlock created byÂ iPhone Dev Team,Â andÂ iPhoneSIMFree,Â a commercial unlocking program that sells between $45 and $90 online. The unlocks let users insert a SIM card programmed with account data from another mobile provider so the phone can make calls on that carrier's network, rather than solely over AT&T's. Other mods, or modifications, let iPhone owners install their own ring tones -- Apple charges $0.99 on top of the usual $0.99 tune fee for a ring tone -- and add new software to the Apple-approved applications on the device. Apple also said it would issue an iPhone update this week, and hinted -- as expected -- that it will use firmware updates toÂ cripple unauthorized modifications.Â "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs ... will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed," the statement said. The coming update has been no secret. Shortly after Jobs unveiled the new iPod line and announced the $200Â iPhone price dropÂ that angered many early buyers, Apple confirmed that it would update the device to add new features, including the ability to buy tracks from the iTunes music store over Wi-Fi. Not surprisingly, Apple's policy didn't scare off those who have modified their iPhones. On the company's iPhone support forum, a user identified as ansuz07 said, "The percentage of iPhones that have become bricked from hacks is very low. Even those that experienced problems could be fixed by a simple restore. Apple is going to make it sound a lot worse than it actually is since they are the ones who don't want you to do it in the first place." ComputerworldÂ is an InfoWorld affiliate. Â
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Hackers have figured out how to unleash Apple's iPhone from AT&amp;T's cellular network, but people hoping to make money from the procedure could face legal problems.
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Blog: Group claims it can unbind the iPhone from a specific carrier to "expand the functionality" of the device.
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Apple angered early purchasers of its iPhone with its $200 price drop but now has detailed how those early adopters can claim a $100 credit.
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Hacker Jon Lech Johansen, known widely as &quot;DVD Jon,&quot; has cracked Apple&#39;s iPhone activation, or so he claims, meaning that iPhone buyers will be able to activate and use the new handset without having to commit to an AT&T wireless contract. Johansen announced his feat in a blog post entitled &quot;iPhone Independence Day.&quot;