DigitMemo.com

Apple agrees to sell iPhones in France unlocked

The move comes after Apple met a roadblock when its international policy of banning unlocking was challenged by French law.  A French telecommunications law, passed in 1998 states that manufacturers must offer to unlock consumers phones for a small fee for the first sixth months after release, and for free after that, as reported via French news site Les Echoes.

Click for more on Viva la Unlocking! French Law Dictates Apple Must Allow Unlocking »

It won’t downgrade the firmware, meaning so far you can’t re-unlock an iPhone that’s been 1.1.1, but it’s still 1.0.2 in all its third-party application glory.

The iPhone Dev Team folks are working on a way to downgrade the new firmware to let people unlock their phones again, but for now AT&T users sitting pretty, and non-AT&T folks can at least do the WiFi thing.

Click for more on HowTO: iPhone 1.1.1 to 1.0.2 Downgrade »

AT&T says NO to software unlocking…

So, as you may have seen, earlier this morning at 3AM local time UniquePhones (the team behind iPhoneUnlocking.com, who’ve claimed to have the second proper iPhone SIM software hack) got a threatening call from AT&T’s legal team urging them to not release their software — or else. Now, we can understand why any smallish business wouldn’t exactly want lawyers repping AT&T (and Apple) breathing down their necks for a potentially market-shifting discovery — which is why the company is now officially holding the release of their SIM unlock solution indefinitely while they assess their legal position. Fair enough, but we still haven’t even had a chance to verify their solution does unlock iPhones.

Click for more on iPhone SIM unlock software iefinitely delayed »

A teenager in New Jersey has broken the lock that ties Apple’s iPhone to AT&T’s wireless network, freeing the most hyped cell phone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones.

And no no, this is not the pure software-based unlocking. Some serious soldering work involved(and voids the warranty). It takes the guy 2 hours per phone.

Click for more on Unlocked iPhone sold for over $30K »

It’s high noon, Apple and AT&T — we really hate to break it to you, but the jig is up. Last night the impossible was made possible: right in front of our very eyes we witnessed a full SIM unlock of our iPhone with a small piece of software. It’s all over, guys.

The iPhoneSIMfree.com team has proved their claim that they cracked Apple’s iPhone SIM lock system, and prove it they did. The six-man team has been working non-stop since launch day, and they’re officially the first to break Apple’s SIM locks on the iPhone. It’s done. Seriously. They wouldn’t tell when and how they would release it to the public, but you can certainly bet that they’ll try to make a buck on their solution (and rightly so). We can hardly believe the iPhone’s finally been cracked. No, scratch that — we just can’t believe it took this long.

Click for more on iPhone unlocked: AT&T loses iPhone exclusivity »

Unlocked iPhones currently debut in HongKong.

(iPhone on HK CSL EDGE Network)

(The AD reads: Now available, no preorder; Work instantly with your own SIM card; Voice and SMS ready)

The merchant charges quite a premium for this: HK$6000($770) for unlocking only and HK$16800($2150) for a full unlocked phone.

The unlocking, however, can be done by using a special hardware called TurboSIM. costs only $80 at Bladox store. For more info read this thread at hackint0sh.