Teen unlocks iPhone-AT&T; link
new york -- A 17-year-old hacker has broken the lock that ties Apple Inc.’s iPhone to AT&T;’s wireless network, freeing the most hyped cellphone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones.
George Hotz of Glen Rock, N.J., confirmed Friday that he had unlocked an iPhone and was using it on T-Mobile’s network, the only major U.S. carrier apart from AT&T; that is compatible with the iPhone’s cellular technology. In a video posted to his blog, he holds an iPhone that displays T-Mobile as the carrier.
Although the possibility of switching from AT&T; to T-Mobile may not be a major development for U.S. consumers, it opens up the iPhone for use on the networks of overseas carriers.
The phone, which combines an innovative touch-screen interface with the media-playing abilities of the iPod, is sold only in the U.S.
AT&T; Inc. spokesman Mark Siegel said the company had no comment and referred questions to Apple. A call to Apple was not immediately returned. Hotz said the companies had not been in touch with him.
The hack, which Hotz posted Thursday on his blog, is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. It takes him about two hours to perform. Because the details are public, it seems likely that a small industry may spring up to buy U.S. iPhones, unlock them and send them overseas.
“That’s exactly, like, what I don’t want,†Hotz said. “I don’t want people making money off this.â€
He said he wished he could make the instructions simpler, so users could modify the phones themselves.
“But that’s the simplest I could make them,†Hotz said.
The iPhone has already been made to work on overseas networks using another method, which involves copying information from the Subscriber Identity Module, a small card with a chip that identifies a subscriber to the cellphone network.
The SIM-chip method does not require any soldering, but does requires special equipment, and it doesn’t unlock the phone; each new SIM chip has to be reprogrammed for use on a particular iPhone.
Apple may be able to modify the iPhone production line to make new phones invulnerable. The company has said it plans to introduce the phone in Europe this year but it hasn’t set a date or identified carriers.
