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Saturday August 25, 2007
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It may be hard to believe that two hacks may have been found to unlock the iPhone, but 17-year-old George Hotz of New Jersey dedicated his summer to doing it before he headed off to school, according to the SF Chronicle. Unlike the iPhoneSimFree.com team, which provided a demo of the unlock to Engadget, Hotz decided to accept his fame, interviews with CNBC and Fox News, and publish the steps to unlocking the phone as well. He was able to get his AT&T phone working with a T-Mobile SIM.
Oh, and what did he do with his unlocked iPhone? Sell it on eBay. But after fraudulent bids kicked the price into the millions, Hotz traded it for -- get this -- "a sweet Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones." How did he do it? Links after the jump.
For whatever reason, Hotz decided to post each step using individual posts on his blog, apparently to maximize traffic. This being Blogger, the steps are viewable in the right-hand column of links, but we've provided the the ten-step method below:
What you'll need before you start.
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 7.
Step 8.
Step 9.
Step 10.
Oh, and while there's been no indication from Apple on whether they'll allow the hacks or not (or issue firmware or OS revisions invalidating them) it's probably fair to say that AT&T is screaming bloody murder about now. And how do we know this? Because Engadget is reporting that a third team, which apparently also has a SIM unlocking piece of software, has received a nasty letter (as in "Publish and be sued!" from AT&T's lawyers.
Note to AT&T: once these methods become established, after they've leaked onto BitTorrent and music Web sites, it's all over. Personally, I can't see Apple rewriting the DRM time and time again; yes, the company may make an effort to invalidate the latest hacks at some point, but I suspect the basic hacking method will still be valid. But it also depends how insidious Apple might be: could they simply push some sort of "sniffer"app to users' iPhones?
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August 25, 2007 8:00 PM
Given my understanding of the hack, one can be confident that this method will be short lived. Arrogance on Apple's part, or perhaps miscommunication between software and hardware engineers left a hole that can easily by filled.
Basically, Apple believed that only "signed" software could be loaded as updates to the core communication processes responsible for among other things verifying the network (AT&T) the iPhone was connected on at any time. Once loaded, these key processes did no further checking against hacks. Hence the arrogance. They believed in effect they had a 100% effective firewall.
I have worked in the industry that deals with protecting digital rights. It is rather simple for Apple to develop a more secure method of checking integrity of running software and verifying it complies with contractual agreements.
I would expect a new update within a few weeks, to a few months, that will update the firmware ... a version 1.0.3 that not only makes new iPhones safe from this hack, but reverses the hack on existing iPhones once one accesses the Apple network. iTunes anyone?
I applaud the ingenuity, patience, technical skills, and marketing savvy of George Hotz. He has a great future ahead of him.
As to those that wish to go with the iPhone on another network... I offer caution. Apple has too much riding on this, and the fix all too apparent to last long. Remember, Apple is now negotiating foreign exclusivity deals with foreign carriers in other markets. They will need to insure these companies, along with AT&T that they can protect their investments.