iPhone 3G software unlock due by New Year's Eve
updated 10:15 am EST, Tue December 16, 2008
iPhone 3G unlock by Jan.
The iPhone Dev Team has announced that its long-awaited software unlock for the iPhone 3G should be released on New Year's Eve. The unlock has been completed, and is currently being packaged into a user-friendly application, expected to be no more complicated than other iPhone hacking applications such as QuickPwn and BootNeuter.
The unlock method will be available to all iPhone 3Gs running the v2.11.07 baseband or earlier, meaning any jailbroken iPhone 3G running the v2.1 firmware or lower. If a phone has been updated to the v2.2 firmware, the unlock will remain unavailable for the foreseeable future.
In a related observation, the Dev Team notes that yesterday's Mac OS X 10.5.6 update has been causing a few issues with recognizing an iPhone in DFU mode. The Team believes this to be a kernel bug, and not a direct hacking countermeasure by Apple. A few possible fixes have been posted on the group's blog, but the Team warns users to try them at their own risk.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2005
BooHoo
Oh, right, so to run an unlocked version of the iPhone 3G, I'll need to run an obsolete version of the firmware, lacking not just many newer features, but mostly also exposing several security features that 2.2 patched?
Certainly looks like the whole unlock / jailbreak community has been successfully marginalized by Apple's efforts (i.e. App Store, and international iPhone availability)) and that Apple's winning the Cat / Mouse game.
Certainly, once such an unlock is released, the few countries not yet supported will have a limited demand for it, but considering the availability of genuine unlocked iPhones through Apple, and the general high cost of procuring iPhone 3Gs now, the appeal will be limited.
Better to just procure and use a first generation iPhone, which can be unlocked just fine, and will run 2.2 software. It's pretty clear what Apple wants people to do (as, if they wanted to, they could lock down first generation iPhones with equal ease, but so far, they are useful to Apple)