The altruistic experimenters of the iPhone Dev Team have completed what they set out to accomplish quite a while ago. The software-only iPhone unlock. See Engaget post.

Their work is free, too. Which gives it a much nicer feel than the wholesale pay-per unlock model the iPhoneSIMfree guys were trying to shop around. That just seems wrong, especially since their technology was based in large part on the work others were doing for free purposes.

Now above I’ve linked the iPhone Dev Team to the hackint0sh forum. I’m pretty sure that’s where they’re based from. The IRC server is an interesting place to lurk sometimes if you’re bored. I’d like to be able to verify that for sure for you, but the site is reeeeally slow right now. Which actually is a sign that they are in fact the go-to place right now.

Exciting stuff. Between the new $399 price and the possibility of using T-Mobile service the iPhone is looking more tempting than ever. Ah well. Thing is I really don’t need a phone.

Too bad really. Unlocking phones by usb-ssh sounds like fun.

Update: Yeah, looks like the iPhone Dev Team are the hackint0sh folks. Here’s an excerpt from a post on their iPhone forum.

Sam time to update the first page

Quick status indicator:

UNLOCK - YES, YES, YES
3RD PARTY CODE - yes
SYSTEM ACCESS - yes
ACCESS TO DMG - yes
ACTIVATION - yes

Thanks to the entire Dev Team Sam, Zappax, JC_unlckd, Draken, nasko, drh, guest184, geohot

and Craker for the best tutorial writing in the forum..Many other contributors, you know your part and a hearty pat on the back comes from all us common guys!!!

from the hacking community worldwide.