After numerous delays and endless cries of "hoax!", it looks like the
iPhoneSIMfree iPhone unlocking software is finally available for purchase from four online retailers around the world. Wireless Imports in the US, iPhoneWorldwideUnlock in Australia, 1digitalphone in Germany, and iPhone4arab in Saudi Arabia (currently down) have all purchased bulk licenses from the iPhoneSIMfree team and are selling individual unlocks for around $100 (Update: that price is just from the US etailer, it seems; looks like the Aussies are letting it go for under 50 bucks American. Also, the Hackint0sh community is already busy at work trying to snatch these sites' code as we speak). Go nuts, and let us know your initial experiences below...
Update: The Hackint0sh guys claim they will not be reverse engineering the iPhoneSIMfree software. Ok, well, whatever. Scratch that. That crew definitely seems to be reverse engineering the IPSF solution, and frankly we can't blame 'em.
posted Sep 10th 2007 9:55AM
It's only about $80 over priced.
I was thinking somewhere around $25... $99 is just bad...
"It's only about [$99] over priced."
fixed
That's what you suckers get for giving into something that looks sexy but doesn't do shit.
That's what you suckers get for giving into something that looks sexy but doesn't do anything. Bow before my HTC Kaiser.
WOW, Great news! to start a day with... Luv u IPSF
I kinda assumed that iPhone4arab would be charging no less then a car...
THAN != THEN - tell a friend.
he knows
...at that price they must be concerned this fix will be in the wild (for free) rather soon.
Is this the reason why apple reduced their price on the iPhone??? Do you think they should cooperate with Apple and allow the additions of this features into the Apple's accessories list. $399+99 = $498. Quite cheap compared to the $599 on AT&T. Apple should start selling abroad so that people don't have to order their friends or pay for high postage fees. The news of the week was: http://www.gadget9.com/2007/09/06/apple-update-iphone-8gb-for-399/
i think their little deal of exclusivity with at&t would somewhat suffer if they sold it unlocked.
it's intentionally exclusive. the simlock is intentional(of course, duh. one could argue that exclusivity was a stupid choice but we can't know that without knowing the entire deal between at&t and apple, like if they get any subs from the subs).
it won't be long before.. a few get together... pay $ .. then get the unlock... hack it .. and release it free...
The ultimate irony...a hack of a hack
as soon as we get the app out in the open the reverse engineering will begin. hackers to your terminals.
i'm not paying $100 for this today.
I can't wait for all the reports of people who tried to use the free version and ended up with an expensive paper weight. But I'm just a bad person so whatever :p.
Use ur $100 Apple discount ;)
yahh, cuz Apple is going to be selling the unlock at its stores... right.
Joke.... Laugh a little?
Well actully, you could by it with Apples money. Sort of. The money that got refunded by Apple (When the price dropped) could be used to unlock. But, it's actully your money, but in a way, you could say it was Apple's money.
Awesome news, but come on... $100?! That's pure profit! Just add it to my list of expenses...
I know that these guys put a lot of time into this, so it's not "pure profit" at all - they're earning money for the time they spent. But anyway, what's wrong with profit?
Pure profit?!?
Does that mean all software license fees are pure profit... Man, that photoshop is overpriced - look at all that pure profit the developers are making...
Considering that most of the work was done for them for free by other individuals (iphone dev/hack teams), I'd say yeah, it's basically pure profit.
Absolutely. This is daylight robbery, and ethically highly dubious for many reasons.
I believe bulk pricing for the licenses was between 25-35 a pop depending on the number ordered, so if they turn it around and sell for $100, they're gouging you. That's a 300-400% markup.
Do they accept apple GiftCards ?
$100 for an unlock? wouldnt it be better to pay my $175 cancelation then collect At&t's $25 transfer rebate? fifty dollars more and i dont have to worry about updates shipping or using this on a different network.
Aaron, what transfer rebate? I just switched from Tmobile to ATT, I didnt know about a transfer rebate?
That comment is GOLD!!!! Best laugh of the morning.
iphoneworldwideunlock is selling them for just $50 they are the first in list engadget do a litle research :S!
$50 *only*???
As someone stated before its well over priced.
Well, maybe, but im in mexico and for now i only have an overprized and fat 8gig ipod touch... for 50dls the only cellphone i can get is a motorola f3 so i think its a good deal ( apple is selling the cellphone function for 100 dls :) ipodtouch 8gig + 100dls = iphone8gig)
Do I hear $40?!!!
I just got my Iphone last night. Connected and activated it this morning to ATT and as much as it hurst, paid the 400 etf for Tmobile for two phones. I'd rather have full support from Apple and ATT and be covered by warranty and be able to freely update my phone without any issues. I'd rather not live on the wild side on this one. But for all of the others Overseas, more power to you guys.
That was pretty stupid. You could have activated with a pay as you go plan, should have done your research.
And paid for two phone plans for 14 months, that would have been stupider.
Come to realize it, I should have waited a bit longer. But being that Apple made their 1 million mark today, I'm sure the 4gb Iphones would have left the store shelves fairly quickly. Oh well, life goes on.
Well, just bought this at two different retailers. No news from them yet.
Is this just another pre-order or are people going to see an unlocked iPhone today? So far it just looks like another pretty website and alot of Add to cart buttons. =)
From what i can see it looks like its a preorder with the website waiting for at least 1000 - 1500 orders before buying bulk licences from the original guys. They'll prob start unlocking within 48 hours
I don't care who you are or how much you want an unlocked iPhone, if you pay ANYTHING for a software unlock, you're an IDIOT... and I am going to laugh out loud when this purchase comes back to bite you in the arse, one way or another.
Rank me low for being such a pessimistic "hater," but even THEY admit that it's a possible FAIL:
"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. All updates will be free."
$100?
hahahaha, you're kidding, right?
At this point, the people who get hurt by the hack getting hacked are the guys who purchased bulk licenses. But I guess that's the cost of doing business.
Wow, $100 ???
You must be out of your mind.
And what's their warranty that you'd get free updates when Apple slams the door on this hack???
NADA, NOTHING, ZIPPO.
Come on. If you're itching to get rid of $100, I can give you my PayPal account info so you can send me that Benjamin you're dying to throw down the shredder.
so people are supposed to pony up 100 for something they arent sure even works?
nice
a unlock on this phone does what for the us, lets you switch to tmobile.... not too tempting.
100$ for a hacking software!!! This is quite expensive!!! Wait and see for a free version!! ;-)
isnt it obvious that future iPhone updates will somehow cripple unlocked phones.
You just know this is Steve Jobs gettign his $100 coupons back :)
Just bought 1 license...100 bucks...still waiting confirmation.
Cheers !
Obviously the only way the original hackers were going to make any money was from the bulk-only sales. They *new* that once this got out into the open there would be a very short window to make any money...so they let others take the risk. Well played h4ckz0rz.
yes 100 hundred is way to steep, but 50 wouldnt be so bad to unlock a pretty nice phone these guys do deserve some reimbursement for there time and effort, they are the only 1`s to pull thru(although i dont know anyone who has unlocked yet)if you thinks 50 is to much you spend the next 2 months hacking it for yourself and if you dont know how to hack thats why you gotta pay the piper.
So, at this point, couldn't we just buy an iPhone, use the unlock, and use it as a non-cellular iPhone/iPod Touch with additional features?
Could these guys have made themselves a bigger target for the Apple legal beagles - come on now - ripping off the Apple logo?
I thought they priced the unlock at $30? Greedy bastards. Heh heh. No thanks, I'll stick with my crappy-ass LG (not smart) phone on Verizon. It may have a crappy UI and no features, but at least it works as a phone.
Looking forward to my ipod touch though :)
its awesome for people who dont live in the US. lots of people are buying iPhones off ebay in the UK and this FINALLY means they can use all the features
If unlocking your phone is legal as some stated isn't it illegal for apple to lock your phone again?
Wait for the free SIM unlock
Jugomugo, they've been doing what you just mentioned since about day one. What, have you been living under a rock? ^^
Will never pay 100 bucks...
But others will....Thats their target market.
The people dying to dish out 100 bucks...The same ones who dished out 600 when the thing first came out.
The other link in this thread is cheaper. Scroll up to 10:41am.
He has it priced at $45
100quid? thats crazy..
This is obviously a hoax. On the website, it says the IPSF software would communication with their servers wia WiFi. Thats bullshit. How da fark iphone even connects to anything without a wireless router at home. Blindly obvious joke. And an internet connection is really unnecessary for unlocking. They could have obviously hard-code particular IME/SN in the software periodically, but either version can be cracked still. This is a joke afterall.
No, it probably is real. But yes you're right it can be cracked very easily. Infact, if someone can give me a sniffed session of an activation I can see if it's possible to recreate the actvation server to activate any IMEI, that appears to be the best way to do it. I don't care if it's encrypted or anything, just give me a packetlog and if possible the .app and I'll see what I can do.
I'm thinking something like:
1) Point WiFi router DNS to rogue activation server.
2) Use app.
3) Unlock complete.
Fake a response it it should be fine.
These are just preorders. Still no real software.
What? still pre-oder?
Apple probably released the hack. Ipod sales are slow, reaching 1mill mark at the 79 day mark probably wasn't their goal. They have a contract with AT&T, so they can't sell to other carriers. This is a win for Apple and nothing for AT&T... Apple seems greedy enough to pull it off.
<
Apple probably released the hack. Ipod sales are slow, reaching 1mill mark at the 79 day mark probably wasn't their goal
>
Heh, heh. Apple's already sold almost as many iPhones as Microsoft has sold Zunes. it took seven months to sell 1 million Zunes, and it's unclear how much of that was channel stuffing. And an iPhone is more than twice as much as a Zune, even at the new pricing.
Plus, the blanket press coverage of the new price drop means that sales should increase, dragging the second wave of adopters into the party.
By any measure, the iPhone has been a tremendous success - and it's a 1.0 product. Apple pulled in a half a billion in revenue (average selling price of $500) in 79 days (or $400 million). Unreal.
I'd be afraid to use a product from a company who's website looks like that. Sry. Since when can a middle man offer things cheaper than the manufacturer?
Seriously, How can they even charge for this?
100.00 USD? 100.00 Dollars...
Are they trying to maximize their profits before they get shutdown? ...100 Dollars... Heh.
Someone send me the app without any kind of licence crap in and I'll take a look.
hexxeh AT hexxeh DOT net
Yes but what will you do if you can't register your IMEI on the server of Iphonesimfree.com? It won't work...
Look at the software, buy a licence, monitor all files on the phone and logs, see what it does. Post logs to other devs, discuss, rewrite simple version without licensing rubbish, (Don't) profit!
Dude the Aussie site has it for 50.
So....has anyone got the software yet???!!!
Man this is going to be the biggest scam the internet has ever seen if it doesn't come through really quick!!
ray, are you dumb? you OBVIOUSLY need to be at a hotspot to use this unlock software as it requests an unlock from the server, which holds your IMEI # to allow you to unlock it. YES you do need to be on the internet for the ISPF software. You probably wont need one IF it is hacked.
so when will this be showing up on bittorrent?
first, it actually has to start being distributed to people. second, it has to be cracked, right now it communicates with a server to check if your IMEI\serial is allowed to be unlocked. they will either crack it fully or have to release a server emulation that you run on your pc imo
As soon as someone gives me a packetlog or another guy/girl (hey, female hackers do exist!) cracks it.
Does anyone actually have their .app yet?
Actually ranova I'd run the fake activation server myself, and release the source for anyone else who would rather run their own. The phone shouldn't be AT&T only anyway. I'm not American, I'm from the UK, but I can understand why people would be pissed off. So yeah.
So now all we need is another way to get out of the ATT contract scheme (cost increase per text msg) and for tmobile to support visual voicemail and im set. I wonder since tmobile will have it in germany if they will support visual voice in the states?
cool, but $99 is a little steep,
i'd be happier with $25 as well, but if your wealthy enough to own an iphone you're already on the buzz-train so may not mind the rip.
Gaaaa! Now it becomes so tempting to get an iPhone! Specially considering I live in Chile, so we're not getting the iPhone until who knows when...
That site looks like Web 0.5
this whole thing just points out the stupidity and herd instinct of apple customers. pay $500 for a phone and then pay $100 for an unlock code which may or may not work?
that's like buying a car and then paying for instructions to hot wire it since keys weren't included.
How much does an unlocked high-end handset cost over a locked version? At least a hundred dollars, right? So what's the problem here? I honestly don't think you people can be satisfied. Why not just buy some cheap unlocked cellphone if you want to save every little penny? Either get the unlock or not. If you wait longer, I'm sure another unlock app will be cheaper. This is the price you pay for always wanting to be the first to get something. It's not a life-saving device by any means. Just some fancy phone.
It's like you want somebody to steal an expensive car for you and then you quibble about having to pay the guy a hundred bucks to boost it. If that's the case, go steal it yourself. Two weeks back you people were dying for a carrier hack. Now you got it and it's still not good enough. Sure the unlock hack probably won't last, but you'd need to find out if the company gives money-back guarantees in that event. Then you'll have no recourse except to take the company to court and see how fast you get your money back.
It's amazing casinos aren't taken to court more often for deceiving gamblers that they have a good chance of winning riches.
Kinda pricey. I'm waiting for the free version. It's only fair that someone hacks their software. They are after all making money off the efforts of others. Jailbreak and Apple. Not to mention, in all likelihood, version 1.0.3 will break the unlock a la the free ringtones. It took Apple hours to get a new version of iTunes out to block that process. How long do you think it will take them to do this one.
God Bless those hackers. Get to work.
$100 in the US vs how much to get out of a T-mobile contract?
And how long before people can buy 3G iPhones in Europe?
This makes sense. The Apple faithful will pay $600 for a phone without batting an eye. So, the same fanatics will pay $100 to unlock - and 60-some days from now, the price of unlocking will drop to $20.
Don't buy from the American resellers they are just crooks, who overcharge greatly and in any case the unlock is going to be digitally delivered so you can buy from Australian reseller who sells it practically at cost ($50 US)!!!
so if the Australian site is selling it for $50 US and the US site is selling it for $99...
thats kind of a no brainer...for $50 its worth the risk of not having a guarantee...
Haha. all u idiots talkin abt hackin the hack! read up properly, these iphonesimfree guys are running a backend server which only unlocks the IMEI numbers registered with it (why else do u think they're asking for IMEI numbers?). its gonna be really tuff to hack this, unless someone figures out what the server is doing, and sets up their own server to replicate its actions, or program the software(hack of the hack) to do the functions of the server as well.
The word is retailer
It's kind of odd that the sites look like they are region dependent. Any word on whether I could use this hack to make it work on a network in a country (ie Jamaica) other than the four that the merchants are based in.
Breaking News - Apple Set to release Unlocked iPhone for $299 in a month!
This sounds sweet. I would just hope this was true. I'm dealing between buying an iPhone now with tha iPhoneSimFree, wich i'm not sure' or waiting a couple of weeks to see what comes on.
Yey Engadget.
Spoken like a true PC fan. Good job.