Press Release

A number of websites have sprung up over the last couple of days offering customers the ability to have their iPhones 4/3Gs iOS 4.3.3 unlocked remotely for use on any network. They are claiming these unlocks are official and will permanently unlock your iPhone. As noted by prominent iPhone 4/3Gs iOS 4.3.3 hacker MuscleNerd, the procedure seems to involve accessing Apple's database to directly add IMEI device identifiers for unlocking.

For More Information On How To Unlock Your iPhone visit: www.YourAppleiPhone.com

These sites appear to be charging anything from between $170 to $250 to perform this procedure, which involves you making payment, providing your IMEI and carrier information, and then sitting tight until you receive an email from anywhere between 3 to 10 working days.

The sites appear to be working through a third party to perform the unlocking rather than performing it directly themselves. It is unclear whether they are operating independently or if they are all working with the same party that has decided to offer the service to various storefronts while remaining silent behind the scenes.

Adding a device's IMEI to Apple's database for unlocked iPhones 4/3Gs iOS 4.3.3 should in theory permanently unlock the device. But here is the clincher " Apple do not offer "official unlocks". If you own an iPhone that was purchased under contract, and your contractual obligations been fulfilled (i.e. you have had your iPhone for 2 years " or whatever the contract stipulates) then you can officially unlock, but not via Apple, rather with you current service provider. These providers are given access to Apple's database, and once your IMEI is added to it, the next time you sync your device in iTunes it will be greeted with a message to say your handset has been unlock.

What Apple do offer by way of unlocks is this. You can go to any Apple store and purchase a handset outright and will receive a "factory unlocked iPhone". These handset are permanently unlocked and will never become locked when updating firmware etc. via iTunes. This is the idea scenario, but will involve paying top dollar for your device.

To Unlock your iPhone 4, 3G, 3Gs, 2G 4.3.3 and 4.2* Visit: www.YourAppleiPhone.com

So what then are the "remote iPhone unlocks" being touted around in the last few days. It appears that somebody (a disgruntled Apple employee perhaps?) with access to Apple's database may be performing the procedure for these companies. If this is the case then the unlocks (if they actually work) are achieved by adding devices to the Apple database, but, and it's a very big but, Apple can conceivably identify those entries that had been made improperly and remove them, rendering those devices re-locked once they again sync with iTunes. Consequently, most of the sites offering unlocking services are failing to guarantee that the unlock will be permanent, although they are advertising it as such.

It goes without saying that Apple will definitely get to the bottom of this very quickly, and we are seeing some of the larger sites that offered this service, already withdrawing it under the pretense of being "overwhelmed by orders". The question is this " are you prepared to gamble $170-$250 on a permanent unlock that may only last a couple of days?

Organisation Profile: