Company Close to App to SIM-Unlock iPhone

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

It’s common to look around the Internet and “google” for unlocking services, so that you can use a different carrier’s SIMs. It’s generally easy, but not there yet for the iPhone. The British firm Uniquephones says they are very close to an app for unlocking the iPhone.

There is at least a two-step process to unlocking an iPhone, McLaughlin said. His team has been able to unlock the activation process to the AT&T SIM card specific to an iPhone so another AT&T SIM card can work with the phone and be activated through iTunes. However, any attempt to change the firmware of an iPhone so it can support another carrier’s SIM card breaks the phone, he said. The key to unlocking the phone is breaking the encryption process that protects the token sent through the iTunes activation process to an iPhone’s firmware, McLaughlin believes. Source: PC World

We Say: The complexity to this process also means that Uniquephones will be charging far more for unlocking an iPhone than for other phones. $49.99 for an iPhone, and checking their site, about half that for a Samsung. Still, the company has already had 150,000 inquiries on the website they opened.