Hackers race to unlock the iPhone

With the iPhone locked to the AT&T network in the USA for at least five years the hacking community is rushing to be the first to circumvent this restriction.

Unlocking the iPhone would not only allow users of T-Mobile to use their SIMs in the iPhone (sorry Sprint and Verizon users, you don't use SIM cards) it would also allow the possibility of using the handset overseas before its official launch.

The unlocking process has two stages.

Firstly remove the requirement to activate the handset via iTunes, then crack the SIM lock.

A variety of hackers and hacking groups claim they are close to achieving the first stage, and with the file system also apparently under attack, the SIM lock might not be far behind.

However, the fact that the race to crack the iPhone has a lot riding on it in terms of Kudos in the hacking community, means that cooperation is not what it might be amongst rival hackers.

"I can't emphasize enough how much this s*** stinks. Trust me, your ego is not as important as you think it is. If everyone worked together we would have been done by now, but instead we have a******* all over the world trying to 'beat us to the punch,' " wrote iPhone Dev Wiki poster gj.

Meanwhile, some web sites such as iphoneunlocking.com are reporting a huge amount of interest in their future services. "We have had a rather busy day with over 130,000 requests for help unlocking Apple iPhones," says the company blog. Rather optimistically the site reports, "We are able to unlock 75% of all the iPhone [sic] we have currently tested with unlock codes generated from the phones IMEI."

The race goes on.