iPhone Unlocking

There are carriers in several markets around that sell unlocked Apple iPhones. These iPhones can be used with any compatible carrier around the world.

Here's a list of the countries and carriers that sell unlocked Apple iPhones:

Belgium - Mobistar
Czech Republic - O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone
Greece - Vodafone, Cosmote
Hong Kong - 3
Italy - 3, TIM, Vodafone
Luxembourg - Vox Mobile, LUXGSM
Macau - 3
Malaysia - Maxis
New Zealand - Vodafone
Philippines - Globe
Russia - MegaFon, MTS, Beeline
Saudi Arabia - Mobily
Singapore - SingTel
Slovakia - Orange
South Africa - Vodacom

Reports have surfaced that unlocking your iPhone for use with another carrier will disable application push notifications. There is some debate over whether or not Apple is simply ignoring the problem, or if it's something they intend to fix in the near future.

The problem was discovered by PoweryBase, the developer of a push-enabled "to do" list application called NotifyMe. According to the developer, five percent of users (those with unlocked iPhones) generate 80 percent of their customer service requests, claiming the app doesn't work as advertised. These dissatisfied users are also driving NotifyMe App Store ratings down.

Now iPhone 3GS users have two jailbreaking solutions at their fingertips. Shortly after geohot (George Hotz) released his own jailbreak in the form of purplera1n, the Dev-Team released a new version of redsn0w for the iPhone 3GS.

As we previously reported here, geohot recommended that everyone with a 3GS follow specific steps to preserve their future ability to jailbreak. Turns out he wasn't content to wait for Dev-Team to release redsn0w for the 3GS.

iPhone blogger George Hotz has discovered a new layer of security in the recently released iPhone 3GS. If you're waiting on iPhone Dev-Team to release a jailbreaking and/or unlocking solution for your iPhone 3GS, generating a unique certificate for your device could keep your options open.

Apple will likely release iPhone OS 3.0.1 soon, possibly postponing a jailbreak even longer. George Hotz explains the process of generating a certificate below.

If you're interested in using your iPhone 3G with any GSM mobile carrier the iPhone Dev-Team has the answer. Unlocking can also save a few bucks if you have AT&T and you're using your iPhone 3G outside of the US.

Using the latest release of ultrasn0w simplifies the process, but will only work with the iPhone 3G. Start out by making sure your iPhone 3G is updated to iPhone OS 3.0 and jailbroken with PwnageTool or redsn0w. T-Mobile users should disable 3G on their device.

The iPhone Dev-Team has confirmed that updating to iTunes 8.2 will make the current versions of QuickPwn and Pwnage Tool inoperable. They are warning users who wish to jailbreak iPhones to wait until the new versions of their tools are available before upgrading iTunes to the new version.

The Dev-Team plans to release updated jailbreaking software after Apple makes a public release of iPhone OS 3.0. An update to the unlocking software yellowsn0w will also have to wait.

The announcement regarding the new version (2.0.2) of the iPhone Pwnage tool, which is presumably just hours away, brought with it the news that it would not contain an unlock for the new iPhone 3G. The DevTeam, however, has indicated they are still hard at work on developing an unlock for the new iPhone's 3G/GSM baseband and given their long record of success, one can only assume it is only a matter of time before the 3G unlock arrives.

According to a post on the "unofficial, official" blog of the iPhone DevTeam, the latest version of their jailbreaking and unlock tool Pwnage is due to be released sometime today. Though the post did not specify when the release would occur, it did state that the new version of Pwnage is "undergoing final checks and will be packaged, signed and should be uploaded within the next few hours." The post also indicated that individuals could "count on it being released sometime on Thursday" (8/7).

The new version of the Pwnage tool will provide iPhone owners with the ability to jailbreak the latest release of iPhone firmware, a bug fix release made available earlier this week. Though the official stated reason for the iPhone OS 2.0.1 update was "bug fixes", it also rendered ineffective previously released tools that were able to effectively jailbreak phones running iPhone OS 2.0.

Unfortunately, the new version of Pwnage still does not offer

A new video of an iPhone running iPhone firmware 2.0 has surfaced. Posted on Gizmodo earlier, the video shows an iPhone running a fully hacked iPhone firmware 2.0 (or 1.2, depending on who you're asking) and demonstrates many of the new features found in the updated firmware.

The 2.0 hack was completed by the iPhone Dev Team, and the hole that was found is described by the Dev Team to be considerably difficult for Apple to close. According to Gizmodo, the hole may be considered "impossible" to close.

The hacked 2.0 firmware allows any GSM carrier and the installation of any third party software. Watch the video below to see the 2.0 iPhone in action

When 1.1.4 was released, many were surprised to hear the good news that they could still jailbreak their iPhone on 1.1.4 using ZiPhone designed for 1.1.3 and earlier. The bad news was that the activation and unlock capabilities of ZiPhone were not effective on 1.1.4 and even jailbreaking 1.1.4 sometimes was unpredictable. All of these concerns are now a thing of the past, thanks to the release of ZiPhone 2.5.