Brazilian company develops software to Unlock the new iPhone 3G

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Written on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 by Gemini

A Brazilian company is claiming to be the first to have found a way to unlock Apple’s new iPhone 3G, getting around restrictions that require users to sign up for calling plans with exclusive carriers, reports said on Tuesday.

The Web site of Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo and other sites such as Digg.com and Gizmodo.com said the firm, DesbloqueioBr, hacked the phone by altering its firmware and by adding a special card add-on to the SIM chip. The results allow iPhone users to connect to any carrier, not just the one that has an exclusive arrangement with Apple in each country where it is sold.

It's an expensive affair!

But the Brazilian hack doesn’t come cheap. DesbloqueioBr plans to charge between $250-375 to unlock an iPhone, which itself costs around $200 in its basic 8GB version in the US. However, there are some problems with the Brazilian fix, such as a drop in the quality of connection, and Apple’s ability to wipe out the hack with a software update.But one of the company’s partners, Breno MacMasi, said there would always be ways to circumvent the locks.“ Apple has made some big mistakes, so we will be able to come up with another hack. It’s going to be a game of cat-and-mouse,” he said.

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Warning! Unlocking iPhone can damage device

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Written on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 by Gemini

San Francisco: Apple Inc. said on Monday (Sept 24) that programs available on the Internet that allow the iPhone to be used with other service providers besides US’ AT&T’s network can irreparably damage the device.

Apple, which also makes the iMac computer and the iPod digital music player, said once an Apple-supplied software update is installed on the iPhone, it “will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable.” “We are not doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of worldwide product marketing.

The California-based company also said an iPhone that fails to work because of the installation of the unlocking software is not covered under the warranty. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update later this week, the company said in a statement. “Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorised unlocking programs on their iPhones,” the company said.

There are a number of unlocking software programs on the Internet, and, at least two of them, iUnlock and Anysim, can cause the iPhone to stop working once its software is updated, Schiller said. “There may be others, but we don’t know all of them,” he added.

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