The iPhone has been unlocked. Or so an Engadget mobile article about a new YouTube video posting suggests. YouTuber ozbimmer, in his video, demonstrates how he’s able to make an outgoing call with an iPhone registered to the Australian network Telstra.
While the hack doesn’t seem to support support incoming calls or SMS quite yet, the iPhone could be considered for the first time to be truly SIM-unlocked. For the moment, though, it’s still just a hack–an insanely great one–and the closest we’ve seen to actually unlocking the phone. You can follow ozbimmer’s hackint0sh.org forum thread for updates.
Up until now, iPhoners could only use methods such as Jailbreak and iASign to get around the AT&T activation, the first of the two steps that constitute a complete unlock. But this video actually seems to have the gone the whole way. For such a great feat, there seems eerily little fanfare – no celebrations, no huge breaking-news headlines and, the thing that’s really indigestible, no hack tutorial. We’re expecting this to change soon, though; nothing this big could possibly remain this quiet for very long.
It might also be interesting to note that Telstra, the network the Web 2.0-savvy iPhone is registered to in the video and the only one that offers nationwide EDGE connectivity, has publicly criticized the iPhone in the past and claimed that the mobile world is “not their knitting” (although they did later express that they might still be in the game as a potential iPhone carrier in Aussieland). If it works with Telstra, it should, in theory, work with other 2.5G GSM carriers. For Web 2.0 developers aiming to deploy their apps to the device, this could signal an encouraging expansion of the reach of a growing new platform.
I’m pretty darn excited! There’s fresh hope, as I mentioned in my comment to the Engadget mobile article, that I might actually be able to use the phone with local networks here in Nepal. And for those of you who don’t like AT&T, have a contract with another operator, are located overseas, or simply love hacks, this should be a great incentive to throw a huge party.
