With Software and Soldering, AT&Tâs Lock on iPhone Is Undone
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A 17-year-old New Jersey resident has published instructions on how to unlock Appleâs iPhone so it will work on some competing cellular networks.
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Both Apple and AT&T acknowledged that some customers have had problems activating their phones to connect to the AT&T cellular network.
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Fear of litigation has led to an indefinite delay in the planned Saturday release of software to unlock Apple Inc.&#39;s iPhone.
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InfoWorld - Hackers are&#160;working to unlock Apple&#39;s iPhone, but the job appears to be more difficult than initially expected.
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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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With new software tools, even your grandmother can free her iPhone from AT&amp;T.
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Handsets pulled to apply audio glitch fix, reports suggest
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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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InfoWorld - Apple&#39;s&#160;iPhone launch&#160;has been marred by delays in AT&amp;T&#39;s phone activation system, leaving some people unable to use their new toy throughout the weekend.
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Dignity restored for $111.87 Analysis Friday was one of life's great days: I returned my iPhone. I was tired of Apple's adult-proof keyboard. I was tired of AT&amp;T's piddling wireless network. But most of all, I was embarrassed that I'd bought the thing in the first place.â¦
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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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An Apple software update is disabling iPhones that have been unlocked by owners, according to reports.
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Unlocking the iPhone is proving to be more difficult than some hackers had expected.
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An Irish programmer delays today's release of software to unlock Apple's iPhone, after early morning legal advice.
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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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A team of security experts in Baltimore, Md., said it has found a flaw in Apple Inc.&#39;s iPhone handset that can be used by attackers to access private data stored on it.
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NEW YORK -- A teenager in New Jersey has broken the lock that ties Apple's iPhone to AT&T's wireless network, freeing the most hyped cell phone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones.