iPhone dev team confirm 3G iPhone unlocked for all networks
By Tom Warren, 16 December 2008 - 12:23 28 comments
The unofficial iPhone dev team have confirmed moments ago that they have completed an iPhone 3G unlock and are currently packaging a user-friendly application with the simplicity that you see in other applications from the team like QuickPwn.
The update will be released on New Years Eve and will require a jailbroken iPhone and 2.11.07 baseband or earlier. Jailbreaking is a method of unofficially hacking the device and allowing it to run 3rd party applications not available on Apple's official AppStore. The latest iPhone 2.2 software updates the baseband beyond 2.11.07 and it is recommended that if you want a 3G unlock that you do not update to 2.2 using iTunes alone.
It has taken the team just over 6 months to hack the iPhone 3G and has been the main focus of their efforts.
The dev team have also commented on Apple's OSX update which has blocked jailbreaking, "We believe this behavior is due to a kernel bug not a specific countermeasure by Apple", some workarounds have been suggested.
Comments (28)
+Beastage - 16 December 2008 - 12:41
Liberty prevails, welcome to the free world Apple.
thealexweb - 16 December 2008 - 12:52
This article is poorly explained, is Apple saying it will sell unlocked phones?
Tom W - 16 December 2008 - 12:56
What don't you understand? "It has taken the team just over 6 months to hack the iPhone 3G and has been the main focus of their efforts" does that really suggest that Apple is selling unlocked phones. Maybe you need to read over it again properly.
thealexweb - 16 December 2008 - 12:58
The article has been edited since I read it the first time.
Julius Caro - 16 December 2008 - 13:12
the title is kinda misleading though. "iPhone dev team" sounds pretty official to me.
+Northgrove - 16 December 2008 - 15:26
Yes, that threw me off until I started reading it.
+Shadrack - 16 December 2008 - 16:31
I agree that the title is misleading but the actual article is not.
QuarterSwede - 16 December 2008 - 19:17
It may sound misleading but that is what the hackers decided to call themselves. Poor choice huh?
Joshua Lee - 17 December 2008 - 02:55
Maybe Alex is retarded. Poor Alex. I made fun of people who were retarded and got in big trouble, but it sure was fun. :-)
Exosphere - 17 December 2008 - 09:00
The bit we didn't understand was the explanation "iPhone dev team" wasn't Apple themselves, I see now it's been re-written to explain this, but the headline still remains the same.
Exosphere - 17 December 2008 - 09:01
You sound like a really nice person.
thealexweb - 16 December 2008 - 12:56
Yay just as I thought the article has been updated to mention the word unoffical in the opening sentance. Jeez Neowin thats a big error to make.
Tom W - 16 December 2008 - 12:58
No mistake made, if you follow the "confirmed" link you'll see plain as day it's not Apple's development team and they refer to themselves as "iPhone Dev Team".
Marshalus - 16 December 2008 - 16:00
Yeah Neowin, how dare you/we edit a story to make it more descriptive! For shame, FOR SHAME!
+Jedimark - 16 December 2008 - 12:59
Aren't you forced into purchasing a contract when you buy, if so is there much of a market for jailbreaking the iPhone 3G?
Tom W - 16 December 2008 - 13:19
You can get them on pay as you go in the UK
+dave164 - 16 December 2008 - 13:53
or alternatively you can buy them from eBay
SH3K0 - 16 December 2008 - 13:58
Yip, either way you're looking to pay a ridiculous price for it. Got mine for £400 on PAYG mind you I'm still feeling the pain in my back end from it lol.
ermax - 16 December 2008 - 14:08
Good point but if you travel out side the country often it is cheaper to get a prepaid sim card for that country. But you can't use none ATT sim cards in the iPhone if it isn't unlocked.
Vezineth - 16 December 2008 - 14:45
That was strange and will give Apple incentive to NOT fix the bug.