iPhoneSIMfree begins fulfilling bulk orders, apparently will not unlock end users' phones

Are you ready for it? Looks like iPhoneSIMfree is. A number of tipsters have sent us emails that they've received announcing the availability of the elusive software unlock -- delivery on Tuesday, 4th of September. Good news right? Maybe, but here's the tell:

"Iphonesimfree.com is a wholesale only company. Although we could, we do not and will not sell directly to end users, because we want to work together with our valuable resellers as a team and not interfere in their business."

Hmpf, and cover their collective legal asses too. Once resellers have provided their purchase details and made payment, they will receive an application to install on their iPhones. They must then log into the iPhoneSIMfree "back office" via WiFi connection where the iPhone will be registered and unlocked. Pricing starts at $36 each for 50 licenses or $25 each for 5000+.

Why should it matter if you have to get your iPhone unlocked by a reseller? Well, first off that greatly increases the chances of your having to buy a fresh iPhone from a 3rd party; while we're sure some resellers will offer unlock service for the iPhone you currently own, that means you'll still have to send or take it in (instead of quickly unlocking from the comfort of your own home), and if a future update should break the iPhoneSIMfree unlock, at BEST you'll have to take it in again. (At worst you'll be stuck hounding the middleman -- not iPhoneSIMfree -- for a fix, and when that comes out you'll still have to take it back in. Ugh.) We're still awaiting word back from the iPhoneSIMfree team to verify that they won't be working with end users after all. Full email posted after the break.

[Thanks, The African Nerd, trash, Geoff, and everyone who sent this in]

From: Orders iPhoneSimFree.com
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 8:42 PM
To: [redacted]
Subject: iPhone unlocking - WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING ORDERS


Thank you for contacting us. We are now ready to take orders. Iphonesimfree is the only pure software solution available for iphone unlocking. Easy to market, easy to use as indicated by several respected independent reviews such as:

CNN:
<http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/01/apple.iphone/index.html>

Engadget:
<http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/iphone-unlocked-atandt-loses-iphone-exclusivity-august-24-2007/>

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The reseller or his/her customer must install on the iphone our software, available by mail or through direct download from our site. This is a standard .app file and once installed on the iphone it will show up as a springboard icon on the main screen.

The reseller must log into our back office and enter the required data specific to that iphone (his license credit will be substracted).

Once done, the reseller or the customer must run the .app, which will communicate via the iphone wifi to our server. If the iphone has been registered, the software will proceed to unlock the iphone.

It is that easy! In the unlikely case of any problem happening, we have a 24/7 hotline to assist our resellers.

WHAT IS THE PRICING STRUCTURE?

The minimum number of licenses you can order is 50 pieces. Minimum quantity and pricing are not negotiable.

50 licenses: $36/each
100 licenses: $34/each
250 licenses: $32/each
500 licenses: $30/each
1000 licenses: $28/each
2500 licenses: $27/each
5000 licenses: $25/each

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: WHAT GUARANTEES DO WE HAVE AGAINST FUTURE UPDATES?

We CANNOT guarantee that this software will work after any future updates for the iphone. It does currently work on all firmware versions, up to and including, 1.02. We will naturally try to provide our resellers an updated version of our software for each firmware update, it is in our interest, but we do NOT guarantee that we will be able to do so.

WE ARE A TEAM:

Iphonesimfree.com is a wholesale only company. Although we could, we do not and will not sell directly to end users, because we want to work together with our valuable resellers as a team and not interfere in their business.

HOW DO I PLACE AN ORDER:

We are now taking orders. The delivery date is Tuesday, 4th of September. If you want to purchase a bulk of licenses please reply to this email with:

- Number of licenses you want to purchase
- Company name and address (or Name if you are not a company)
- Name of the contact
- Telephone number (at least one)

You will shortly receive a proforma invoice with all the details on how to complete your order. Payment is by bank transfer only.

THANK YOU, WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR ORDER.

Best regards,
Iphonesimfree.com sales team.

[Satish @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:12AM]

OMG! OMG! I am ordering my new iphone now...

[H. Bennis @ Sep 3rd 2007 7:10AM]

Order your s/w license here as well.

Gussy from Hackingt0sh is running this one.

Not many left in the 1st 50 licenses' batch.

Order: http://aussieiphoneunlock.com/
Thread: http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4436&page=1

[Roho @ Sep 3rd 2007 9:29AM]

Wow this guy is making $10 per license profit so he's making $500 per 50 people that sign up with em. Nice.

[ARobinso0502 @ Sep 5th 2007 7:47PM]

I would definitely say pass on this right now... I'm concerned about the information that iPhoneSIMfree gets off the phone... From what I understand, so send informaation both ways to unlock the phone... While I agree that they should be paid for this function, I'm still waiting for it to become freely available...

[dudeInAmerica @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:14AM]

Ahh capitalism. Gotta love it.

I think people should just wait for an official supported iPhone for other carriers. You know its coming.

All apple would need to do is release a patch for their os which would allow say, a flash player or other nice update and disable this.

This hack (yes HACK meaning unsupported and not future proof) should be free.

[Nathan @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:20AM]

"You know it's coming"? Dude, haven't you heard that AT&T has a five-year exclusive agreement with Apple? So I have two options: 1) take your advice and patiently wait until 2012 for a T-Mobile version of the iPhone, or 2) get really excited about a hack opening up the iPhone to other carriers. Yeah, I'll take option 2.

That being said, I am going to wait this one out until the next firmware update. I don't want to drop $50 for a hack that only works for 2 weeks.

God bless you early adopters...

[nikster @ Sep 3rd 2007 5:44AM]

Nathan, there's this thing called the "rest of the world", have you heard of it? The exclusive 5 year deal covers only the U.S.

I am in south east Asia and I am thinking that there is no way in hell Apple can sell a SIM-locked phone here. There are no SIM-locked phones here, the concept doesn't exist. No subsidies either. There are, however, hordes of people willing to go into debt to own the latest and greatest phone (no, really.). So this would be a pretty big market to give up on, and I for one can't imagine Apple doing that.

[Beau @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:24PM]

"Nathan, there's this thing called the "rest of the world", have you heard of it? The exclusive 5 year deal covers only the U.S."

You're so right. Mr. dudeInAmerica is prolly from I guess... Canada? Brazil? Ah, who knows.

There's this thing called context, have you heard of it?

[Fruition @ Sep 4th 2007 12:10PM]

When I read this I envisioned Samuel L. Jackson going "Geography motherf***er, do you know it?!"

[JugoGoya @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:15AM]

Alright, I'm a reseller, but I'm not, but could, just won't buy even 50 licenses to then resell them in the event t his thing won't work for more than two weeks. I'll have to wait and see how this rides out.

[nikster @ Sep 3rd 2007 5:48AM]

Yeah, there'd need to be some guaratees. No doubt the people behind this took some heavy advice from lawyers, and from their perspective this is the right thing to do. They can sell their software to unlockers all over the world who can then proceed to unlock iPhones to their heart's content because they are not based in the USA, and not subject to the DMCA or any other U.S. laws.

Outright selling of iPhone unlocking software would probably be shut down immediately by ATT lawyers.

Whatever, I am gonna wait for the open source version, thankyouverymuch :)

[UberFu @ Sep 4th 2007 8:43AM]

I totally agree_

My take on this is that people buy into iPhoneSimFree's ploy here - spend a shit load of cash to have a phone work with another carrier for 2 weeks [maybe longer] - then Apple releases an update that disables the last patch - And finally turn around and sue the ever living hell out of iPhoneSimFree for faulty software_

Got to love it_

This is more entertainment than cable_

[DickHardknocks @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:18AM]

There is no way Apple would allow this unlocking to continue. All they need do is update the firmware and you'd be screwed.

[sam @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:19AM]

it's funny cuz I emailed iphonesimfree and they never sent me the above email. Also there is nothing on their website about this, finally method of payment is a bank transfer which was posted on the hackintosh blog.. i suggest people wait until there is actual evidence this is from iphonesimfree i.e. it is posted on their site

[luke @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:20AM]

put

in

a

link

http://www.iphonesimfree.com/

[Maui @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:28AM]

What if you've already signed up for ATT service but are within the 14 day period?

[tehpwnmstr @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:29AM]

they must mean "free" as in NOT 'locked up', not FREE!!! as in with out cost.

[fredo @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:39AM]

dont worry this .app will reverse engineered in few hours ;-)
will be free soon

[Geoff Thompson @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:31AM]

I could forward a copy of the email i received from them the emails legit but who knows if they are

[Sam @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:34AM]

"SALES:
Individual per unit licenses will be available starting next week."

Straight from their homepage.

Lrn2Read Websites kk? :P

[Matt @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:36AM]

$1800 just to unlock your iPhone. Wow.

[LordFarkward @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:35AM]

and 49 others'

[kubism @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:38AM]

this is bull.. so much for the "Individual per unit licenses will be available starting next week" listed on the website.. although it was exciting to hear of the software unlock, the way things are progressing is just total bull.. perhaps its only a matter of time before someone " hack " the unlock program?

[zuricher @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:39AM]

it's going to be free as soon as the first not totally screwed and greedy sob get's hand on that software which most probably anyway makes use of tons of gpl'd tools and community developed iphone apps...

[Dimitri T @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:41AM]

Could anyone please be so kind and explain? I just don´t understand why worry about the risk of getting the phone locked again by installing a future update by Apple. I mean you have an option of not installing it and running the old firmare, don´t you???

[Beau @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:17PM]

Apple has already demonstrated the ability to apply an OTA update RE: The web gallery feature

So really guys, best of luck with this one.

[peter @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:52AM]

well guys we are screwed i got an email from iphonesimfree because i wrote a fake email saying i wanted to sell it on ebay... so this is what they said it seems everytime u download the software on an iphone the provider has to enter information about htat iphone so it doesn't look like this will work on torrents because a liscense has to be deducted damn... bad news

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The reseller or his/her customer must install on the iphone our software, available by mail or through direct download from our site. This is a standard .app file and once installed on the iphone it will show up as a springboard icon on the main screen.

The reseller must log into our back office and enter the required data specific to that iphone (his license credit will be substracted).

Once done, the reseller or the customer must run the .app, which will communicate via the iphone wifi to our server. If the iphone has been registered, the software will proceed to unlock the iphone.

It is that easy! In the unlikely case of any problem happening, we have a 24/7 hotline to assist our resellers.

[nathan @ Sep 3rd 2007 12:41PM]

Whatever. If DVD Jon or the other talented iPhone devs get their hands on it, it's free for everyone very very soon after that :)

[Ayle @ Sep 3rd 2007 12:35PM]

So basically it works like totalmultiserver... Ouch! so basically somebody has to find way to see to log whatever this thing is doing to the firmware...

[Nomi @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:03AM]

Just wait a bit and soon there will be a hacked .app file and a fake server to authenticate for free on iphonesimfreefree.com

[Nogami @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:32PM]

Depends how the app works. If the developers are clever, and if this tool is unlocking by actually calculating the "real" unlock code for the phone's IMEI, they probably put the algorithm that does the unlock-code calculation on their server, and not inside the app.

If this is the case, people could disassemble/hack the app all they want, but all they'll find is the routine that reads the IMEI and sends it to the server, then waits for the response back and applies is.

[tiulaymomo @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:13AM]

From an individual end-user's point of view, how will we be able to verify whether someone is a legit reseller?

[Ayle @ Sep 3rd 2007 12:43PM]

I doesnt matter if you give your licence away after you bought them, but if this works like the other server-based unlocking softs, you'll need a id and a pass to connect to the server.

[tiulaymomo @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:31AM]

dustin> Perhaps Apple won't do that. They can only be (secretly) too happy that the unlocking software will help sell more iPhones faster. Unless there's something in their agreement with AT&T which makes it mandatory to use some form of best efforts to disable hacks ......

[Maui @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:33AM]

I received my account info from ATT and it says I can cancel service within 14 days. Anyone know if this true. I'd rather unblock the phone and insert my other simm.

[jake @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:40AM]

by law you have 30 days. carriers are forced to give consumers 30 days to cancel.
IT"S THE LAW

[RBasil @ Sep 3rd 2007 6:37AM]

Sorry but you are wrong. It is 30 days in California (and a few other states) but it's 14 days everywhere else. Educate yourself before you spew next time.

[MARSHAK @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:40AM]

get this asshole off the internet. mods, check his other posts in other articles.

[kubism @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:47AM]

Well guys.. legit or not.. the guys over at hackintosh has started threads to pull money together $1800 for the 50 license. Maybe engadget should start a pool too?

[Ryan Block @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:56AM]

Sorry, we're not in the phone unlocking business. It would also open us up to all kinds of liability. I suggest joining the Hackintosh pool.

[kubism @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:26AM]

Join the hackintosh pool guys !

[BoyBawang @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:58AM]

We need to get people together to buy a wholesale pack of 50

any one interested?

[BoyBawang @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:01AM]

o sorry bout my last post
anyone with the hackintosh pool link?

[Roho @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:04AM]

I would suggest waiting to see how legit this all works out to be since you have to wire transfer the money before you even get anything in return. I'm personally planning to buy several hundred licenses if this in fact does materialize as it'll be a great revenue stream for quite some time before the actual unlocked phones from Apple hit the market later next year. Of course I'm talking about outside of the US.

[tiulaymomo @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:14AM]

Just a friendly suggestion - why would you think this will continue to be a good income stream? Any of the following can happen within a very short time:

1. Someone else releases a working product at a lower price point

2. The software itself is hacked

3. Apple issues an update which voids the software (though this is less likely)

[Roho @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:21AM]

The income generated would be from sales of iphones rather than the software itself. If another solution pops up that is free (as in beer) then we'll just move over to using that.

If apples updates it's firmware to block this, it's simply an issue of informing would be customers of this. Most cell phone users aren't in the habit of updating their phone software to begin with so overseas I don't see this as much of an issue, especially if the customer is made aware of this fact before purchase.

I do also suspect that unlockers will try to keep pace with Apple as well.

Many people are willing to pay a premium to use an Iphone today as opposed to waiting until some time next year.

[Ratchet the Lombax @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:07AM]

I don't really see why Apple would care unless AT&T pressured them to do something. After all they aren't loosing any money because you still have to buy the iPhone. Unlocking the iPhone is cool but not really a great idea for most people since most of the cell phone providers can't provide the services to fully take advantage of all the iPhone has to offer. That's why Apple went with AT&T since they and I think Cingular were the only providers that could offer the best support for the iPhone but Cingular turned them down.

[ryanworrell @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:08PM]

Um. I think your dumb. Cingular is ATT tard-nugget

[Ratchet the Lombax @ Sep 3rd 2007 11:57PM]

Yea sorry I meant to say Verizon.

[Sholijay @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:08AM]

Guys, it is so strange that people that ought to be smart enough to smell a SCAM a mile away are falling for this guys SCAM. For me I can bet my whole 1 yr pay that these guys are scammers. Why are they insisting you pay by bank transfer only? Also they have no physical address or contact phone number. I am sure they are simply playing on peoples greed, I am sure there are people out there already sending money to this guys so that they can resell for a premium. Also if they really have the software to unlock they will be selling to individuals and not only resellers. Anyway a word is enough for the wise.