To its credit, Sprint was always upfront about the fact that the originally unlocked Apple iPhone 4S handsets sold on its network would not remain so for long. It said following the 4S launch in a press release that “a SIM lock [would] be pushed to the devices shortly,” in order to bring the handsets in compliance with its policy of having the phone “locked to [its] network domestically and internationally.”

You can call Sprint via its Customer Care number to have the device unlocked again, as mentioned, so long as you’re in good standing, but Sprint also took the opportunity to point out that it has some very attractive international voice and data roaming plans of its own. In other words, it’d rather you just didn’t call and used its own services when abroad.

The iPhone 4S is Apple’s first true world phone, which is no doubt a selling point for international travelers. What isn’t a selling point is having to ask your carrier permission to allow you to use your device overseas ahead of actually traveling. Having the first iPhones get out the gates unlocked was likely a mistake on the part of Sprint and Apple, but it could’ve easily been spun as just a nice perk for customers. Sprint does have a lot of money-making to do before it can recoup its initial iPhone investment, however, so it makes sense that it wouldn’t leave a potential revenue source unexploited.

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The news, which comes via The iPhone Blog, is a promising sign for all iPhone users. If Apple is at all a party to the decision to allow unlocking of its devices in countries where the iPhone is available on multiple networks, then hope exists for countries like Canada, too, where the iPhone recently became available on Bell and Telus, as well as Rogers, the original carrier.

O2 CEO Matthew Key describes in an interview with the Times Online how customers will be able to unlock, though that won’t relieve them of their contractual obligations:

Once the iPhone becomes available on other UK networks, we will allow O2 customers to unlock their iPhones, although of course they will still need to honor any outstanding contract period they have. At the end of their contract period, they are entirely free to move to another operator — though naturally we hope they won’t want to!

It isn’t clear how the unlocking procedure will actually work. Will users have to physically visit an O2 store, or can it be done over the phone using iTunes at home? Whatever the method, O2 is doing the right thing by providing its customers a choice, which is a good faith gesture which should end up building customer loyalty and avoiding resentment. No word yet on whether or not other UK carriers will be offering the same service for their iPhone devices.

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The newest devices hitting the market have an updated boot ROM that blocks the exploit typically used in jailbreaking the 3GS, known as the 24kpwn exploit. iPhone Dev-Team member MuscleNerd confirmed that the block does indeed mean that for now, a standard jailbreak on these devices is out of the question.

The 24kpwn exploit was originally discovered early on in the production life of the iPhone 3GS, thanks to connections between the iPhone Developer community and iPhone unlockers. George Hotz (also known as geohot), building on the iPhone Dev Team’s work, published a way to jailbreak the 3GS a few weeks after the exploit was revealed.

Apparently, this is the first time ever that Apple has changed the boot ROM on a production device. Previously, Apple has waited until it released brand new devices to do this, like when the 3GS was originally introduced. Presumably, there is a not insignificant cost associated with making that kind of change mid-production.

In all likelihood, it’s only a matter of time before another exploit is discovered and taken advantage of in order to jailbreak the newer 3GS phones, too, but for now, Apple has dealt a significant blow to the Dev-Team and those who’d rather not rest comfortably under the yoke of Apple and friends. Of course, if you haven’t bought your device within the last week, you should have no problem using the recently released jailbreaking tools for the most recent iPhone OS release, 3.1.2.

Apple’s main problem with jailbreaking, in all likelihood, is the fact that it leads to significantly high rates of piracy on the company’s devices. According to MacRumors, of the nearly four million jailbroken iPhones estimated to be in existence, a full 38 percent of those are using at least one pirated app. Additionally, of iPhone apps that have been successfully cracked and distributed, a full third of the installations are of pirated copies.

So, to Apple’s mind, jailbreaking is depriving it of a nice chunk of its revenue on some of the most popular apps available in the App Store. Even if the boot ROM update only effectively blocks jailbreaking for a month or two, it should have a positive effect in Apple’s income stream for that period.

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In the past, to buy an iPhone you’ve had to either deal with Apple or one of its worldwide providers directly, or try your chances with online retailers, some of whom can be rather shady. Getting a carrier unlocked version was even trickier. But as of next week, Germans will be able to walk into a store designed just for the purpose and pick one up off the shelf.

The store, called 3Gstore.de, is a brick-and-mortar extension of the online retailer of the same name. It sells legally unlocked iPhones to German customers, and has done so since the release of the iPhone 3G. 3Gstore.de even went so far as to sue T-Mobile Germany for false advertising, since the carrier claimed it was the exclusive purveyor of the devices, despite European free trade agreements which make device exclusivity illegal.

Next week, on September 9 at 9:09 local time (09.09.09 @ 9:09, get it?), 3Gstore.de will open a physical retail store (photos in the gallery below) in the German city of Bochum, located in the bustling metropolitan area of the Ruhrgebiet. On offer will be 3G and 3GS iPhones, contract free and officially sim-unlocked. Customers who buy these devices can then sign up for a service plan with the provider of their choice — either O2, Vodafone, or ePlus, in addition to T-Mobile.

For us here in North America, it sounds like some fantastic dream. Sure, the prices are downright jaw-dropping (€999 for a 32GB 3GS, for example), but imagine the freedom, the sheer public nature of it all. Right there in the open, no jailbreak, no shady independent electronics retailer offering unlocking services on Craigslist.

You could plan an iPhone-tourism trip to Bochum, if the picture I’ve just painted is that appealing. But it’s possible that won’t be necessary, since in the very near future, the U.S. might have iPhone stores of their very own. The FCC’s investigation into AT&T/Apple relationship could always bear fruit, if you’ll pardon the pun, and result in the kind of antitrust laws surrounding device exclusivity that 3Gstore.de is taking advantage of.

The people behind 3Gstore.de are all just really big iPhone fans who want other users to have the freedom to choose. T-Mobile has tried to stifle them at every turn, even going so far as to try to limit what kinds of product images the much smaller company can use to promote its iPhone sales. It’s a true David and Goliath story, and if I was anywhere near Germany I’d be there on September 9 celebrating the store’s opening. Not buying a phone, mind you. $1400 USD is a little too rich for my blood. But I’ll be buying one in spirit.

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The above image is the not-often-seen official unlock notification, as displayed in iTunes. The dialogue succinctly confirms that the user’s iPhone, in this case a 3G, has been unlocked and can now be used on any carrier. Note the Apple logo at the top left — this is a result of an official unlock sanctioned by Apple.

Read on to find out how I legally unlocked my iPhone 3G.

In June, while over 1 million early adopters in the U.S. picked up their brand new iPhone 3GS devices, I was anxiously waiting for the official launch in my current country of residence, Finland. I picked up my iPhone 3GS in Helsinki just two weeks ago, when it was finally launched by Sonera.

Regarding Sonera, think of it as a less-repugnant version of AT&T. As the exclusive distributor of the iPhone over in Finland, Sonera has turned out to be a somewhat benevolent carrier. The carrier’s unlimited data plan is reasonably priced, and home hacking your iPhone to tether to your Macbook is positively encouraged.

And now I’ve discovered that Sonera is also happy to lend a helping hand in unlocking your old iPhone 3G. When the 3G was released last year, Sonera customers had to sign up for a two-year contract. When upgrading to the iPhone 3GS, those same customers are given the option to pay off the remainder of their original 3G contract. Paying off the contract, and thus completing the two years prematurely, entitles the customer to have their iPhone 3G unlocked.

The helpful assistant at the Sonera store made a note of my IMEI number and then passed it onto his boss — after that there’s a special piece of software that only his boss is authorized to use. This mystical application submits the IMEI to Apple, which in turn authorizes the device for unlocking.

I was advised that when the iPhone 3G was next synced with iTunes, it would be unlocked. Minutes later, back at home, I connected the iPhone 3G to iTunes and received a new carrier settings update. After downloading and installing the update, Apple’s official iPhone unlock screen appeared.

Going the legit route was a much more painless process than using a proxy SIM or the Dev Team’s unofficial unlock. Also worth noting is that, unlike some of the illicit approaches, this unlock is permanent: I’ll be able to keep updating the iPhone’s OS without losing the ability to use any carrier SIM in the device.

It was a surprisingly quick, easy and free unlock for me, although I’d be very interested to find out if any of our readers around the world have had similar success in unlocking their iPhones.

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I thought once the Dev Team got on board with George Hotz (better known as Geohot, the man responsible for the very first iPhone jailbreak), all differences between the two would be resolved and he would quietly rejoin the fold. Not so, apparently, as he continues to release new software using the Purple prefix, with a new iPhone 3GS unlocking program dubbed Purlesn0w…like what Prince would name his song if he grew up north of the tree line.

The new unlocker, which is out, albeit in beta form (and the source code is available now via Geohot’s blog), is meant to improve upon thee somewhat clumsy solution currently used by Ultrasn0w, which doesn’t actually truly “unlock” anything. Instead, it uses a daemon to generate a ticket that allows the baseband to support carrier sim cards other than the official one. Purplesn0w likewise can’t “fully” unlock anything, but it does use a more elegant solution that takes up fewer system resources.

As a result of his improvements, Hotz also claims that users who unlock via Purplesn0w will sidestep many of the problems plaguing many early Ultrasn0w adopters, including spotty Wi-Fi, battery and unlock failures. There are some caveats, the biggest of which being that you can’t unlock using the new software if you don’t have a legit SIM card with which to activate. Hacktivation support is supposed to be coming in a future iteration, though, so unofficial users won’t be left completely out of the loop.

While some may see the apparent split between Geohot and the rest of the Dev Team as a “breaking up the band,” negative thing, I think it’ll be good for the jailbreak community as a whole. Teamwork is lovely, but a little productive competition never hurt anyone, and usually helps push the envelope. Check out detailed instructions about how to get Purplesn0w on your phone at Hotz’s blog.

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If you’ve been enjoying your new iPhone 3GS, but have been missing the freedom of jailbreak since your hardware upgrade (and you were skittish about the early purplera1n release), then you’re in luck, because yesterday the Dev Team officially released updated versions of redsn0w and ultrasn0w that are compatible with Apple’s newest handset. That also means you can unlock the device (though earlier versions of ultrasn0w were technically compatible as well) without worry. Except for the usual worries, which are, as always, many and include potentially voiding your warranty.

As some of you may recall, the Dev Team was originally planning on holding off on a 3GS jailbreak release until after the official 3.1 firmware update from Apple dropped. In doing so, they were hoping to prevent Cupertino from plugging the exploit they use to access and jailbreak the 3GS with the next release. Dev Team member George Hotz (Geohot) took issue with that cautious stance, pointing out that playing cat-and-mouse with Apple was basically unavoidable anyway, so why not just tackle exploits as they become available, instead of trying to put one over on the software giant? In their post, the Dev Team doesn’t actually debate the merits of either position, they just plainly state that there was no reason to hold back the release with purplera1n already being widely available.

If you can get past the dangers inherent in any jailbreaking activity, and you really want to try out great Cydia and Icy apps like Backgrounder, Boss Prefs, and all the rest, head on over to the Dev Team Blog now for more info on where you can find the official releases. Call me boring, but I’m sticking with my vanilla 3.0 install until Apple irons out all the quirks of the latest device, just in case a trip to the Genius Bar becomes a necessary last resort.

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In the interests of all those readers who need to unlock their iPhone 3G’s for use on different carriers, I donned my investigative hat and tested an iPhone 3G unlock that really seems to work.

While the iPhone Dev Team plunder the secrets of the mysterious baseband in search of the ever elusive software unlock, some of us regular users just can’t wait. In this article, I’ll run you through a typical hardware unlock process, highlighting some of the quirks and a couple of awful potential drawbacks.

As some of this is arguably questionable, The Apple Blog must warn you that you’re doing this at your own risk. Seriously. In fact, one iPhone 3G was totally borked in the process of testing this — almost relegated to a desolate Apple graveyard; nevertheless, in the interest of finding out if we really could unlock the iPhone 3G, we persevered.

Again, The Apple Blog does not endorse your attempts at any of what follows, it could ruin your iPhone. Furthermore, this is not an official solution and as such, it is totally unsupported by Apple. That being said, let the fun begin.

Hardware Unlock

What we’re looking at here is a hardware unlock, which may not be ideal, but it does the job. The unlock I’m investigating today is a hardware workaround for what is in reality a software issue. The perfect solution would be a software unlock — something which the iPhone Dev Team (a bunch of clever hackers not to be confused with official Apple developers) are working diligently towards.

In fact, by way of providing a bit of background on the subject of unlocking, while providing a final word of warning, the iPhone Dev Team had this to say on their blog earlier this year:

We’ve been monitoring the whole “SIM-card unlock” proxy-SIM situation… These sim mods so far seem very very very questionable… they use trickery of the GSM and UMTS network that is considered highly illegal in most countries and they rely on sending bogus IMSIs and various other nasty hacks to obtain service on your iPhone.

Proxy SIM

SIM PIG Proxy-Sim

There are a variety of different hardware unlocks which tend to be referred to as piggyback SIMs or proxy-SIMs. The one I chose to test in this article is branded as Any Network. Unlike all the other proxy-SIMs, apparently I could just stick this one in my phone and be totally unlocked — no cutting, no updating, no hassle (or so I thought).

The proxy-SIM looks like a small circuit board in the shape of a regular SIM card with a chip at the top; it’s made out of what seems to be a very thin, bendy and tearable, plastic. The murky brown device certainly looks somewhat illicit and is designed to be squeezed in to the iPhone with your regular SIM card.

Installation

Now that we’ve got all the background details out the way, I’ll run you through what happened when I installed the Any Network SIM. My aim was to be able to use my Finnish iPhone — locked to Apple’s official Finnish carrier of choice — in the UK, using an unsupported UK carrier’s SIM.

1. Although the folks at Any Network claim their solution is the only one which doesn’t require cutting my carrier SIM card, I did so anyway. The carrier SIM was cut in half and taped to the proxy-SIM. Placing both SIMs on to the tray and sliding them in to the iPhone seemed to be too tight a squeeze.
2. Phoned tech support at Any Network, they suggest I use tape (done) and to keep squeezing it in. This ended badly, the SIM tray popped out, but the proxy-SIM and carrier SIM didn’t — they are stuck to the inside of the iPhone. Slightly tearful, I send my iPhone away to be replaced.
3. After a horrific false start, my iPhone 3G is fixed and sent back to me a couple of weeks later…I also track down a new proxy-SIM. This time around, my plan is to make my carrier SIM card so thin that it comfortably sits in the caddy with the proxy-SIM. Using a scalpel, I spend a few hours delicately shaving away the layers of my carrier SIM until, despite looking like it’s been the victim of a particularly aggressive knife-crime, it is perfectly thin.
4. My crafty scalpel plan worked. Both the SIM and the proxy-SIM are quite snug in the iPhone tray together. I begin sliding them in but discover it’s still a tight squeeze and, if I slide at the wrong angle, the proxy-SIM is liable to slide out inside my iPhone (thus repeating the horrific accident in step 1).
5. I manage to squeeze the tray in to the iPhone. With a storm of nerves erupting in my tummy, I turn my iPhone on… invalid SIM. Disappointed, I sit staring at the screen, I did everything I could to make it work. Minutes later, as a sit in a dirge of disappointment, a tiny miracle happens: the invalid SIM message disappears. To the top left of the screen, my iPhone’s signal bar blinks in to existence. I have coverage.
6. I decide the next thing to do is to test my signal. I call the operator number, it rings, it works, I’m through. With my iPhone 3G unlocked, I find the 3G settings on the carrier’s site — entering these in to the Network settings menu on my iPhone unlocks almost all of the device’s full potential: I can’t get visual voicemail but I can surf the net, download e-mail and even listen to Last.fm.
7.  Plugging in to iTunes for my first unlocked sync, I discover a new problem. iTunes sees my proxy-SIM as an invalid SIM card (in retrospect, this is to be expected). After a little bit of fiddling, I find out that it works if I first eject the SIM tray (and thus the illicit proxy-SIM) and then plug in to iTunes.
8. While syncing, I also happen upon a method for inserting the SIM and proxy-SIM in the iPhone 3G which seems much safer. I first put the proxy-SIM on the tray and slide the tray halfway in to the iPhone; then the carrier SIM is slid in to the iPhone separately and squeezed in to place on top of the proxy-SIM. This sounds somewhat unpleasant, but, for me, seems to be a less risky way of inserting the device.

After several weeks of testing, I can reveal that the unlock does indeed work. Of course, as the iPhone Dev Team noted, this is a questionable solution and indeed a nasty hack (especially when considering that it can lead to physically damaging the hardware). Nevertheless, it really works and, barring occasional drops in 3G signal, is problem free in practice.

Have you tried a hardware unlock for the iPhone 3G? Perhaps you’re waiting for the iPhone Dev Team’s software unlock? Share your thoughts about iPhone unlocking in the comments.

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The “Revirginizer”, a new release from the iPhone Elite Team, will return your unlocked iPhone to its original 1.0.2 state. Therefore allowing the safe upgrade to the 1.1.1 firmware.

Hopefully this means an end to the phone bricking that has plagued the few who ignored all advice and attempted to upgrade an unlocked iPhone.

This process is designed to rebuild your lock table in the seczone area and repair the damage done by the original anySIM unlock. In essence, it re-virginizes your phone.

The software can be found on the team’s Google Code page.

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Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.

They specifically mention the “unlocking” programs which leads us to believe they are only referring to the hacks that unlock your phone and not the hacks for things like ringtones.

Could this just be a scare tactic? Or could Apple be making some changes to the iPhone software that actually will cause the iPhone to be irreparable if it finds hacks were used? Both of those options seem a bit bullish, but Apple hasn’t exactly played nice the past few weeks.

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