It took a little more than two months of sustained effort from a loosely organized community of hackers, plus a breakthrough from the people behind iPhoneSimFree.com, but in any event, it's finally done: Vendors are distributing software that boasts the ability to unlock the world's most talked-about phone without invasive surgery.
Now, by using iPhoneSimFree's unlocking software, which some small Web-based retailers are offering for around US$60, an iPhone customer doesn't have to be locked into AT&T's (NYSE: T) 
two-year service contract. The software doesn't get a customer out of an existing contract with AT&T, but it does let an iPhone user insert a new SIM card and use that card with other GSM (Global System for Mobile communications)-based mobile services. In the United States, the primary option for most consumers would be T-Mobile .
For consumers who might already be in contracts with T-Mobile, they now have the option of simply buying an iPhone directly from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and then using the iPhoneSimFree product to unlock it for use with their carrier -- which would bypass AT&T altogether. AT&T, of course, is the only official carrier for the iPhone in the United States.
AT&T's spokesperson Mark Siegel told MacNewsWorld that his company isn't commenting on the matter.
Free Hacks, Too
While hackers have cracked the iPhone in the past and managed to unlock it, their methods involved breaking open the device and were far beyond the capabilities of all but the most tech-savvy iPhone customers. Now, though, the iPhone can be unlocked solely by software.
Hackers working together in the Web-based iPhone Dev Wiki community learned from iPhoneSimFree.com that the iPhone's baseband chip could be accessed, according to Engadget, which ultimately led to a couple of different solutions for unlocking the iPhone. The most customer-ready of the bunch is iUnlock, which is freely available for download from the iPhone Dev Wiki site.
Not for Faint of Heart
Regardless of which unlocking solution an iPhone owner chooses, the process isn't nearly as easy as the Apple and AT&T activation process. Plus, unlocking an iPhone comes with a few problems. First, the elegant implementation of visual voicemail won't work because it requires AT&T's service. Second, the built-in YouTube video viewing feature breaks as well.
In addition, the legality of unlocking the iPhone is murky right now. Some experts believe that unlocking an iPhone to make calls on another service provider's network is currently legal for personal use under an exemption in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The circumstances, however, are by no means rock-solid. Sellers of hacking solutions, for example, may not be protected at all.
"In any case, users' rights to reverse engineer, tweak, modify, improve and otherwise 'hack' the devices they've paid for contribute greatly to technological progress and a lively marketplace," Peter Eckersley, a staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation , told MacNewsWorld.
"Courts sometimes -- though not always -- allow companies to strip users of these rights by enforcing un-negotiated contracts, and when that happens, innovation and competition are the victims," he said.
Changing the Market
The ability to hack the iPhone and unlock it, even if only used by a tiny minority of consumers, may yet be a catalyst for change in the mobile telecommunications industry.
"In the future, it is possible, maybe even likely, that the customer will be able to buy a phone and then choose the carrier to activate it, but that is not today," Jeff Kagan, a telecommunications industry analyst, told MacNewsWorld.
In the U.S., cell phones have normally been locked so they only work with a specific carrier.
"In other countries, customers pay more for phones but they can cancel. In the U.S., the phones are discounted but the customer must stay for a year or two depending on the contract so the networks can recoup the discount," Kagan explained. "Neither way is right or wrong, it is just the way the networks operate."
In other countries Kagan noted, the networks tend to be more likely to operate with the same standards, making it technically easier to switch network service providers.
"It's difficult to mix standards," he said. "We can do it one way or we can do it another, but we cannot do some of this and some of that to the benefit of the customer and the detriment of the networks -- we have to do it in a way where everyone wins, the customer and the carrier."
No Guarantees
As much as most consumers would welcome the ability to chose their cellular service provider at will, most still aren't willing to shell out several hundred dollars for a cell phone when they can get one free with a service contract.
That may change, but in the meantime, even consumers who unlock their iPhones won't have a guarantee that a software or firmware update from Apple won't "break" the unlocked iPhone.
Talkback: 
