As Erica announced earlier today, our colleagues at Engadget confirmed a software-only unlock for the iPhone that's got their unit happily working on the T-Mobile network. Fine and dandy, but here's where it gets confusing. The AP/CNN has reported that a New Jersey teenager named George Hotz (with the help of some friends) has also unlocked the iPhone for use with T-Mobile; this unlock is described in the story as taking "about two hours" and involved expertise with "both soldering and software," so clearly it's not the same process as the software-only unlock from iPhoneSIMfree.com that Engadget has verified. Commenters inform me this is the same George who appeared in a YouTube video a couple of days ago with a claimed unlock hack.Aside from the TurboSIM process, these unlocks are the first widely-publicized and (presumably) stable methods of unlocking the phone. What are the odds of two completely different methods of unlocking the iPhone hitting the newswires on the same day (even if the George Hotz unlock was announced earlier in the week)? I'm no statistician, but I'm picking up a lottery ticket just in case.
Thanks to Lisa, Rae and Rikin for sending this in.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-24-2007 @ 4:55PM
Steve said...
Make that THREE:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/iphone-software-unlock-competition-begins-to-heat-up/
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8-24-2007 @ 4:57PM
DM said...
Why is it a bad day for AT&T? Or Apple for that matter?
Unlock the iPhone, and void your warranty. Sounds more like a good day for Apple at least. An unlocked iPhone dies - Apple & AT&T rack up another sale. Cha ching.
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8-24-2007 @ 5:17PM
am said...
i think you guys might have this backwards. george is the kid in the youtube video from earlier this week, and is the one led the demo *yesterday* showing everyone how to unlock the phone.
the software unlock, from another group, was announced today.
correct me if i'm wrong.
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8-24-2007 @ 5:24PM
Penn said...
theres more than two, theres the turbosim, the jtag (the one that requires the soldiering) the iphonesimfree one and the uniquephones one
so theres really 3, 4 if you count tricking the iphone unlocking it
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8-24-2007 @ 5:28PM
James Donevan said...
I'd hold off on the lottery ticket. The 'hardware hack' went public two days ago.
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8-24-2007 @ 6:32PM
JeffDM said...
DM; If the sim-free iPod is sold to US citizens to work with that other GSM provider, then it's bad for AT&T, who was counting on being the exclusive iPhone provider in the US. If a lot of them are sold to people outside the US, then it's not going to affect AT&T at all, unless AT&T has overseas branches that are getting the iPhone too.
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8-24-2007 @ 7:53PM
rp said...
I don't see how this is bad for Apple, unless they have some sort of "you're screwed if people hack the phone" contract with AT&T, which is highly unlikely. At worst, AT&T requires Apple to provide a firmware patch that will brick these modded iPhones, but Apple waits a while and sells a crapload of phones to T-Mobile users (and Euro as well). Those that figure out the new firmware will brick their phone don't update. At best, Apple has no such liability to AT&T, does not brick the modded iPhones, and sells even MORE units. Either way, it's really a win-win situation for Apple and a crap-we're-screwed-unless-Apple-helps situation for AT&T.
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8-24-2007 @ 8:07PM
J. said...
Will an unlocked phone work with unicel?
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8-24-2007 @ 9:21PM
steve said...
YES! Anything that FUCKS AT&T is OK by me! Give AT&T what they've been doing to their wireless customers for years. I'm definitely unlocking my iPhone!
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8-24-2007 @ 9:25PM
Chris said...
rp: Since Apple reportedly gets a cut of monthly bills from AT&T, this hurts Apple as well. Also, I don't think they can deny service because of a software "override"
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8-24-2007 @ 10:54PM
Craig Bartle said...
i hear you chip, particularly disappointing when they were tipped off about it two days ago.
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8-24-2007 @ 11:28PM
vdnyc said...
AT&T is completely delusional if they thought nobody was gonna unlock the iphone. c'mon...
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8-25-2007 @ 1:24AM
Michael said...
The phone is now up to $99,999,999.00 on eBay... If you don't believe it, see for yourself:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230164884672
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8-25-2007 @ 1:24AM
Michael said...
The phone is now up to $99,999,999.00 on eBay... If you don't believe it, see for yourself:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230164884672
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8-25-2007 @ 2:34AM
epilepstein said...
Well I don't know if this counts as additional publicity, but the staff at the Apple store in Canada are informing customers inquiring about the iPhone's availability in Canada, that their best bet is to buy one in the states, unlock it and just use wifi instead of EDGE.
I'm assuming that it's not Apple's official position.
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8-25-2007 @ 8:27AM
Chip said...
This was yesterdays news... the software unlock is todays news... I expect more from TUAW.
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8-25-2007 @ 10:21AM
Bob said...
but what does your bill from T-Mobile look like after all that data goes through their pipes? you might have an unlocked phone, but it costs you $400 a month to run it...
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8-25-2007 @ 11:05AM
manish said...
does this work on a cdma network.
just kidding.
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8-25-2007 @ 12:08PM
Verde said...
Good! I think exclusivity agreements should be illegal anyways. Maybe once the unlocking methods become more common I'll get an iPhone and use it with my TMobile service!
I was bummed hearing iPhone was Cingular / AT&T only. I am very happy with TMobile and will not leave them for an iPhone.
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8-26-2007 @ 7:47PM
mhannon said...
Why isn't this illegal?
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