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As Apple gears up for the UK launch of the iPhone -and the rumoured announcement of the 3G-enabled iPhone 2- the news agenda is being hijacked by claims that software fixes to free the iPhone from its expensive lock-in to AT&T are about to go on sale. Or are they? The iPhone is not for the cost-conscious, and Apple's exclusive relationship with AT&T makes it a very expensive piece of consumer jewellery to own -not least because you have to sign up to the uncompetitive tariff for 18 months. Grown-ups grumbled, but paid up. Teenagers of course saw it as a challenge. First was George Hotz from New Jersey, who after a couple of hours work managed to use the iPhone on T-Mobile. However, his solution required a soldering iron as well as software. The race was on to find a software-only solution, and this week an unnamed teenager from Australia claimed that he had developed a downloadable hack that enables the iPhone to be used on Australian mobile networks. In between, some grown-ups, or at least older teenagers, spotted a commercial opportunity, and got to work. The mostly widely known software-only hack is iPhoneSimFree, which has been demonstrated on both CNN and the Engadget technoblog. iPhoneSimFree says it will sell only through wholesalers and value-added resellers, claiming that it doesn't have the capacity to handle individual orders. The price to wholesalers will be around $36-$50 per licence, depending on volume, so it ain't going to be cheap to end users once value has been added. How this reseller-only arrangement will work isn't quite clear: do you send in your existing iPhone, or will you have to buy a new one; and who do you go to if Apple issues a software update which spoils the iPhoneSimFree hack? The iPhoneSimFree FAQ admits “While we have taken all possible measures to ensure that the phone will remain unlocked, we can only guarantee the current released versions of updates (up to and including 1.0.2)”. Belfast-based Uniquephones (not the singular Uniquephone as widely reported), which provides unlocking services for a wide range of handsets, also claims to have unlocked the iPhone, but there was widespread initial scepticism about this, and the company now appears to have backed down under pressure from AT&T's lawyers. A number of hardware solutions are available, including TurboSIM from established manufacturer Bladox. This doesn't require a soldering iron, but rather alarmingly, does involve cutting a chunk out of the operator's SIM card. TurboSim resellers are finding it hard to keep up with demand, to the point where it's been reported than the Australia distributor closed its online sales site after being inundated with orders. Determined hackers have also unlocked the iPhone with the Super SIM supplied by Orange. On September 5, Apple announced a substantial cut in the cost of the iPhone in the US, but didn't, as predicted, announce a UK launch date. They are however reported to be in talks with mobile operator O2. O2 spokespeople say that this is to be expected, and that Apple is talking to all the networks -but O2 would provide a pretty good parallel partner to the exclusive AT&T deal in the US, being not exactly a budget operator. Sunday's Observer reported that Apple gets a pretty good deal from its exclusive arrangements, getting something like $150 per customer in cashback from AT&T. So it looks as if there will be every incentive for would-be UK iPhone owners to unlock their phones. And it's looking increasingly likely that the unlocks will be available before the iPhone officially reaches us. Nick Langley Sep 6, 2007 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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