Hackers make progress towards unlocking iPhone
The locked iPhone only works with AT&T’s EDGE network, and cannot be used with cellular service from other providers. Locked phones are generally used to help operators recoup the cost of subsidizing handsets for their customers, but AT&T is not subsidizing the iPhone, which is priced at either $499 or $599, depending on the model. Instead, the phone is locked because AT&T has a five-year agreement with Apple to be the sole iPhone provider in the U.S.
Is that surprising?
Unlocking the iPhone would be a boon for users locked into a contract with another U.S. carrier, or for users outside the U.S. who want an iPhone. While initial signs indicate an unlocked iPhone is possible, hackers must first overcome several challenges. One of those involves circumventing the authentication process in iTunes that both lets users register for an AT&T service plan and turn on the phone’s features, including its camera and music player.
By Monday evening, U.S. time, hackers had made headway towards circumventing the activation process. But the phone remained locked at the time of writing.
“We have been fairly successful in spoofing iTunes activation processes. This should allow us to activate the phone,” poster gj wrote on the iPhone Dev Wiki, one of several Web sites tracking efforts to unlock the phone. “It may in fact also prevent the SIM locking from occurring in the first place … though we haven’t verified this yet.”
These advances allowed hackers to set and read data on the iPhone, including the ability to query whether a phone has been activated. “The rest of our work is legwork really, in understanding how certain functions operate with the rest of the phone,” the site said, adding hackers are close to the ability to browse system files on the iPhone, a key step towards unlocking the handset.
Once the activation problem has been overcome, hackers will be faced with other questions. For instance, does iTunes have the ability to recognize a phone that was not activated for use with the AT&T network? If so, how will iTunes react?
more from [url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/070307-hackers-make-progress-towards-unlocking.html]NetworkWorld[/url]
July 12th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
The password for root is “alpine”
The “mobile” user accounts password is “dottie”
July 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Curious about what you’ve been up to!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Hi,
i tryed your Code but it don t work.
Are you sure that this is right?
August 10th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
which code did u tried? It’s been updated since the post.