Apple stores now selling contract-free iPhone 3G without a contract

Apple retail stores as of Thursday are selling unrestricted quantities of the iPhone 3G at the full, non-subsidized price of $599 for the 8GB version and $699 for the 16GB models.

The move follows AT&T's plans to sell one phone per customer at the full price for existing customers of its service. In Apple's case however, there is no limit on the number of phones a buyer can purchase, and no need to have an existing AT&T contract.

Activation can completed by the customer at home through iTunes.

While the phones are still technically locked to AT&T service, it is possible (but not supported) to unlock the phones for use with other mobile service providers. In the US, that is largely limited to T-Moble, although that GSM provider does not support the same 3G network the iPhone 3G needs to connect at faster than EDGE speeds.

Apple's change in sales policy comes as the company is working to sell off remaining inventory to prepare for the upcoming launch of the new 2009 iPhone, expected to be released around the middle of June, possibly at the company's similarly-timed Worldwide Developer Conference.

Read the whole article @ Apple Insider

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iPhone 3G unlock gets a massive step closer

Although Apple tried desperately hard to lock out the iPhone Dev Team from ever being able to software unlock the iPhone 3G, the latest video from the Dev Team shows a software 3G unlock is closer than ever!

Have you been patiently waiting for an iPhone 3G unlock to appear?

Well, you’re not alone – millions have wanted a free unlock solution from the iPhone Dev Team, Geohot, Ziphone Zibri or anyone else smart enough to make the unlock happen.

While no 3G unlock has yet been made available, the iPhone Dev Team has posted a video in its blog showing “Custom application execution on the PBM8878”, with the PBM8878 being the “baseband processor” inside the iPhone 3G.

The video shows a connection to the iPhone 3G via SSH, the kernel version, a connection to the basebase, the display of baseband information and then the Dev Team’s PMB8878 baseband tool which is invoked using a “custom AT command”.

Read the whole article @ IT Wire

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Unlocked iPhone 3G Available in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, the place where you can buy anything (or have someone make a copy of anything) now has unlocked iPhones for sale. As you can see from the screenshot, these are official, direct from the Apple Store itself.

Read the whole article @ Wired

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State of the iPhone 2.0 Unlock: DevTeam Still Pending, HK Starts Shipping?

We’ve been all over the jailbreak/unlock situation for both the iPhone 3G and the original iPhone 2G updated to 2.0, and here’s the latest.

The iphone-dev team’s pwnage hasn’t been released yet, but will be soon. According to their blog, Apple’s firmware update slowed them down a little, as has the 3G baseband, so what you’ll get short term is:

iPhone (1st Gen) with 2.0 - Activated, Unlocked & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications). iPod Touch with 2.0 - Activated & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications). iPhone (3G) with 2.0 - Activated, Jailbroken (with support for third party applications).

Can’t wait? Willing to risk mail order? Engadget Mobile says you can order a $1000 worth of unlocked iPhone 3G now:

According to the [Alibaba.com] wholesale goods supply site, you can just order up the “original” Apple device direct from a company called Union Camera and have them sent to whatever poorly lit dock, abandoned warehouse, or suburban safe-house you desire. The best part? They’re network unlocked.

Dunno if I’d risk it yet. How about you?

Read the whole article @ The iPhone Blog

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Firmware upgrade BRICKED his UNLOCKED iPhone

iPhone Central blogger Jonathan Seff writes a sad tale of what happened when he downloaded and attempted to install today’s 1.11 iPhone firmware update on his “unlocked and hacked” iPhone.

Long and short of it: firmware installation seemed to go OK- that is up until he restarted his iPhone.

Message on screen: incorrect SIM card.

So he takes the SIM card out of his iPhone and puts it in his Treo, and the SIM card comes to life.

But then he went to his local AT&T store and told them essentially what I just wrote.

Salesperson hands him a new SIM.

Popped the SIM back into his bricked iPhone.

Still bricked. Seeing same errors.

Just popping into my head: “Ow, it’s a bricked.. iPhone.” Reference: Brick House by the Commodores.

Not OK.

Hey, have any of you readers download the firmware upgrade on a hacked iPhone and got it to work?

Read the whole article @ ZD Net

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Apple May "Unintentionally" Kill Unlocked iPhones with Update

Apple warns users that their unlocked iPhones may not work after new software update

Apple recently announced that its new update will likely kill iPhones that have been unlocked to work on to networks other than AT&T, rendering them completely inoperable.

In a statement released by the company earlier this week, the company stated: "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed."

This statement was immediately followed by Apple's announcement that unlocking the iPhone will result in a voided warranty.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

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Nine steps to (hopefully) re-lock your iPhone

With an iPhone firmware update coming this week that could potentially be permanently device-crippling to unlocked iPhones, relocking tutorials are popping up.

One of the most definitive, if not yet battle-tested, comes from TUAW (The Ultimate Apple Weblog’s) Erica Sadun.

Not without reader feedback (some of it critical) Erica recommends that if you feel the need to relock your iPhone that you perform the following steps:

1. (Take out your SIM from your iPhone.)–Erica writes she is still checking on this step.
2. Download the 1.0.2 firmware to your computer and unzip it. It uses a .ipsw extension but your unzip program should still work. Change the extension if you have to.
3. Extract the ramdisk as such: dd if=009-7698-4.dmg of=ramdisk.dmg bs=512 skip=4 conv=sync
4. Mount the extracted ramdisk.
5. From the ramdisk, copy /usr/local/bin/bbupdater,/usr/local/standalone/firmware/ICE03.14.08_G.eep, and /usr/local/standalone/firmware/ICE03.14.08_G.fls to your iPhone.
6. Place these into a folder on the OS partition (such as /bbupdate) and not into a folder on /var/root. The /var/root partition is set noexec and you cannot run programs from there.
7. Disable com.apple.CommCenter.plist–either using UIctl or launchctl: launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
8. On the iPhone, navigate to the folder where you stored bbupdater and the eep and fls files. Run bbupdater as such: ./bbupdater -f *.fls -e *.eep Reload comm center: launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
9. Reactivate with your favorite AT&T SIM. Erica indicates she personally likes using iASign.

And cross your fingers. This might work.

Then if it does, maybe you’ve learned your lesson- that you shouldn’t have unlocked your iPhone in the first place.

Read the whole article @ ZDNet

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"iPhone Dev Team" issues statement

A spokesman for the iPhone Dev Team, the group that developed the iPhone unlock has issued a statement condemning Apple and promising a tool in the next week which will restore your iPhone to a factory-fresh state. The unlock, he writes, made the iPhone free and useful world-wide, not just in certain countries. The text of the statement, with modifications for grammar and spelling, follows after the break.

9/25 Statement from the iPhone unlockers

Based on download numbers, the iPhone Dev Team believes that, worldwide, several hundred thousand people have unlocked their iPhones. That number continues growing every day. The removal of the lock, a bug, was a major step forward in the iPhone development. It made the iPhone free and useful to anyone, not only to those in certain countries.

Read the whole article @ TUAW

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New Hack Allows you to Re-Lock Your IPhone

Forget unlocking your iPhone. With Apple announcing today a forthcoming update that will supposedly break all software unlocks as well as plans to void the warranties on previously hacked or unlocked iPhones, a new option to re-lock your phone has just emerged on MacNN.

The process, as outlined by one MacNN reader, promises to restore your iPhone to its natural unsullied state -- thus rendering it impervious to Apple's forthcoming firmware update. But don't get too excited. This hack is by no means for the faint of heart. Nor is it a guarantee your iPhone will survive the update. Even the author reminds users that his instructions "are still in flux."

It is believed the above procedure will relock your iPhone and prevent it from being made permanently unusable by the upcoming firmware update. There is no gaurantee [sic], however, and I take no responsibility for your iPhone if the above procedures do not work for you and your iPhone gets hosed.

There you have it. So for all you unlockers out there, it sounds like waiting for this relocking business to get smoothed out is probably your best bet...that, and avoiding iTunes like the plague this week.

Read the whole article @ Wired

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Can Apple + AT&T Shut Down iPhone Unlockers?

aalobode writes "Do Apple and AT&T have the legal right to stop hackers from selling unlocked iPhones? Under their terms, only AT&T may sell iPhones, and Apple gets a commission. When unlocked iPhones are used on other providers' networks, AT&T and hence Apple get nothing beyond what they earned on the initial sale of the hardware. Can they prohibit unlocking? Reselling? The article in Businessweek gives the for and against arguments, but leans toward the view that the hackers may have the law on their side for once."

Read the whole article @ Slashdot

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Apple cracks down on iPhone unlocking hacks

Barely four months after Apple Inc unveiled its much-hyped showcase product, the iPhone, there was a flood of iPhone unlocking hacks in several parts of the US and Europe, putting Apple in serious trouble.

The iPhone is yet to reach most parts of the world. In fact, it was only of Wednesday that Apple Inc took iPhone trans-Atlantic, announcing a November roll out in Britain that could presage a further expansion into Europe.

Apple has already sold over a million iPhones and it has also cut the price by a third to about £200. But then break-ins have been flying fast and furious in the last month or so.

One of the first full SIM unlocks involved using a Turbo SIM card, a somewhat complex process for the average consumer. Then a teenager, George Holtz, published a way to unlock the hardware with some soldering iron-fu and released instructions for other adventurous unlockers.

Full article is @ IBN Live

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Offer Free Unlocking iPhone Outside ATT Store

These two guys wanted to help Apple sell more iPhones, so they decided to offer a free unlocking service outside their local AT&T store :D

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of waiting in long lineups for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!