Open to all? Group claims first complete iPhone unlock
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No opening the handset case, no soldering -- a hacker group has announced that they've come up with a workaround allowing iPhone owners to make calls via networks other than AT&T.
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If you&#39;re fed up with using an iPhone on AT&T&#39;s network, you now can download software to unlock your Apple handset. One package, developed by iPhoneSimFree, is now available from resellers in the U.S., the Middle East, and Europe. It&#39;ll set you back $99. Once installed, though, the app allows you to use your iPhone with another carrier.
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Apple announced Tuesday that Britain will be the first European country to get its much-vaunted iPhone, when mobile phone group O2 launches the gadget on November 9.
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(InfoWorld) - Fear of litigation has led to an indefinite delay in theÂ planned Saturday release of software to unlock Apple Inc.'s iPhone. John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said Saturday that he received a phone call about 3 a.m. Saturday local time from a man claiming to be from O'Melveny & Myers LLP, an international law firm, calling on behalf of AT&T. The firm has worked with Apple in the past. The man informed McLaughlin that if he posted the unlock code, he could be sued for copyright infringement and for dissemination of Apple's intellectual property (IP). McLaughlin was not completely awake when he took the call and did not get the full name of the person on the other end, he said. The man presented "friendly advice," but because of the timing of the call and the fact that it came on a personal mobile phone that McLaughlin never uses for business, it felt more threatening than friendly. "If he wants to give me advice, he could have sent me an e-mail," McLaughlin said. Spokespeople with O'Melveny & Myers, AT&T Wireless and Apple could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday. McLaughlin and his team had planned to release software by 2 p.m. EDT that he claims would unlock the iPhone so it could work with SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards from carriers other than AT&T Wireless. Uniquephones set up the Web siteÂ right after the iPhone's release on June 29 and had been working on the software since then. McLaughlin is concerned that fighting a lawsuit with AT&T or Apple would sink his small company, which does a modestly successful business unlocking wireless handsets in the U.K. and Europe. At the same time, he and engineers in several countries have invested time and money to come up with the unlock software. "It really annoys me," he said. "We have the solution sitting there and we have the customers there, but if you connect the two you could lose everything." About 550,000 people have signed up on Uniquephones' iPhone unlocking site as of Saturday afternoon in the U.K. McLaughlin said he still plans to release the software eventually, but is not sure when. "We'd be happy to let another company take the heat and be the second or third company to post [the software]," he said. In addition to Uniquephones' software, there have been two other reports of ways the iPhone can be unlocked. On Friday, blogger George Hotz posted a step-by-step tutorial for unlocking the iPhone that involves both hardware and software modifications. At another site, www.iPhoneSimFree.com, a company claims it can unlock iPhones through software only. The iPhone has been a hot target for unlocking since its 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.
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(InfoWorld) - A video showing the founder of a Belfast, Northern Ireland, company unlocking the iPhone hit the Web early Wednesday U.K. time as proof that software exists that can unlock Apple Inc.'s device for use with carriers other than AT&T Inc. In the six-minute video, posted on the iphoneunlocking.com blog , John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, is seen with a PC and an iPhone unlocking the device using software from his company. In the video, McLaughlin takes the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card out of a Vodafone Blackberry device and puts it into the iPhone. He then makes two phone calls using the device. The video was shot at his house in Northern Ireland, he said. The video is of poor quality, as noted in his blog entry. "Sorry about the focus, it was done late night using a Nokia N95, but youâll see the process," he wrote. Uniquephones already unlocks phones from many manufacturers, including Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc., and about 60 percent of its customers are in the U.S. The video is the second time someone has tried to prove a software-only method exists to unlock the iPhone. AT&T has a long-term contract with Apple to be the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the phone, a fact that has irked iPhone users who want to have the option of using another carrier's service. The iPhone isn't yet available officially outside the U.S. The race to unlock the iPhone began as soon as the device hit stores June 29. Beginning last Friday, reports began to surface that a teenager in New Jersey had won. Seventeen-year-old George Hotz, who has sinceÂ traded his unlocked iPhone for a new car, unlocked the phone via software and hardware modifications, the latter of which required soldering. However, most observers agreed that not many users would want to tinker with such an expensive device this way. On the same day, a company called iPhoneSimFree.com and McLaughlin both claimed to have the first software-only unlocking method, but iPhoneSimFree.com was the first to show it to a credible third party: an editor of Engadget.com, which reported that Engadget editor Ryan Block had witnessed someone from the elusive group unlocking the iPhone via software. McLaughlin had planned to post his company's method for unlocking the iPhone to the Web site iphoneunlocking.com last Saturday, but it didn't go up. He said he feared legal action by AT&T Wireless if he posted the software because of a phone call he received at 3:00 a.m. in Belfast from a representative of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, an international law firm calling on AT&T's behalf. McLaughlin claimed the caller said Uniquephones.com would be in violation of copyright infringement and distributing Apple's intellectual property if he began selling the software to iPhone subscribers. As of Tuesday, McLaughlin said he is still undecided whether he will distribute the software, but that the video at least proves to naysayers that his company has unlocked the iPhone.
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Hackers who unlock Apple Inc.&#39;s iPhone from the AT&amp;T Inc. network and share the method with 10 million of their closest Internet friends are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies, several intellectual property lawyers said Monday.
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Calling all iPhone owners. The first free easy to use - well, relatively easy to use - software to unlock your Apple handset has arrived, mere hours after a rather more tortuous process. Well, almost. It's not quite ready for release, but folk who have seen it claim it does the business.â¦
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A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in Apple's popular new iPhone that allows them to take control of the device.
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But global roaming still some way off Hackers have succeeded in (partially) unlocking the iPhone so Apple's much-hyped device can be used on at least one network other than AT&amp;T.â¦
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SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. said that almost one out of every six iPhones sold may have been unlocked to run on unauthorized wireless networks, surprising analysts who had estimated the problem wasn't as widespread.
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Apple announced here Tuesday that Britain would be the first European country to get its much-vaunted iPhone, when mobile phone operator O2 launches the gadget on November 9.
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Hackers claimed significant progress Monday in the race to unlock the iPhone, but some say that some egos in the scene are getting in the way of getting the work done.
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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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Unlocking iPhones to use with another operator could result in the mobile becoming "permanently inoperable".
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The iPhone Dev team said it will fight any attempt by Apple to "brick" iPhones that have been unlocked by owners using its anySIM software.
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Cutting class at IDF Editors' Blog Today, I successfully unlocked two iPhones, and they weren't even mine...â¦
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Despite company's attempts to make life harder for the unlocking community, the number of unlocked iPhones appears to be soaring.