Hackers believe they are extremely close to unlocking the iPhone to work with any SIM card - meaning it could be used anywhere.

Glory-hunting programmers across the globe are working towards unlocking the iPhone to work on networks other than AT&T, meaning it could be used anywhere.

Kudos for whoever untethers the high-profile phone from the network will be massive amongst underground 'hackers'.

Currently the phone, which was released in the United States on Friday, is unable to work with any SIM card other than one from AT&T.

A SIM card from one iPhone will work in other iPhones and in regular GSM phones, but not vice-versa.

This means those outside of the US wanting to get an iPhone will have to wait until Apple has signed a deal with a mobile carrier in their country unless the highly-optimistic hackers are successful.

One group working out of the US has been sharing information on the phone's innermost workings and believe they are close to freeing it from the AT&T network.

"We know how unlocking of the phone occurs with a reasonable degree of confidence - we cannot yet trigger this unlocking or verify whether we are right but speaking for myself, I'm pretty sure I know how to do it " said a poster to iPhone Dev Wiki.

Another site, which offers to unlock phones for a small fee when the phone's defences fall, was offering encouraging words last night.

"Send us an email and we will put you on the unlock wish list. We will get back to you with information about unlocking your specific iPhone shortly. No hassle, no fuss.

"We have determined a number of things over the past few days about unlocking the iPhone, and that it is possible to unlock. Stay tuned."

Despite the fact it would be nice to own an iPhone before anyone else, warranties on the $650 device will be voided should the firmware or any other part of its systems are hacked or modified in anyway.

Tech companies and websites have also been busily voiding warranties on the brand new phones - reverse engineering them to deduce which components have been used in their manufacture and get a closer picture of how much the phones cost to make.

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) — For 21-year-old Kelsy Martin, two words — "incredibly disappointed" — sum up how she feels about living in an area where the new iPhone can't be used.

AT&T Inc. is the phone's exclusive carrier, but the company's wireless network only covers eastern Wisconsin and the Madison area in the southern part of the state, leaving people like Martin deprived.

"I do want one," she said. "I have nearly every other Apple product that I can get my hands on. IPhone is just all of them put together. Being in Wausau, it is just not possible. All my friends are all quite disappointed."

Apple Inc.'s newest gadget combines the functions of a cell phone, iPod media player and wireless Web browser. People camped out at Apple and AT&T stores in most parts of the country in advance of the iPhone debut Friday.

But not where Martin lives. Or in Vermont, which also has no service. Coverage is limited in other states, too, like the Dakotas and Alaska, said Chris Bauer, an AT&T spokesman for Wisconsin.

Crystal Peterson of Anchorage, Alaska, said it was unfair that people in her city, the state's largest with about 270,000 people, can't have an iPhone, although she wouldn't buy one.

"This is part of the U.S., too," she said.

Phil Bennett, purchaser at The Alaska Mac Store in Anchorage, said about 200 people have called the store over the last few weeks asking how they can get an iPhone.

"They're awesome. Of course I want one," Bennett said. "But I don't think I would sink the money into it."

Fletcher Cook, another AT&T spokesman, said the network that's used by the iPhone — billed by Apple as the most user-friendly smart phone ever — reaches roughly 270 million out of the 300 million people living in the United States. The network is available in more than 13,000 cities and towns and in areas along 40,000 miles of highways.

Cook said AT&T is continually expanding the network, but there was no timeframe for when it would be available for more of Wisconsin.

AT&T customers can roam on other networks of other carriers if they leave their service area, but new customers must live in communities AT&T serves, he said.

Martin, who will be a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall, is a loyal Apple customer. She owns a MacBook laptop and an iPod Nano.

She only learned a couple of months ago about the coverage problem for the iPhone in Wausau, about 140 miles north of Madison.

"The ads for it started in January so immediately I wanted one," Martin said. "I was drawn to it."

She wasn't fazed by the gizmo's price tag: $499 for a 4-gigabyte model and $599 for an 8-gigabyte version, on top of a minimum $59.99-a-month two-year service plan with AT&T.

Martin, a communication arts major, said she hopes to be in Minneapolis by this time next year and then she'll buy an iPhone.

"It is going to be tough, especially seeing people at Madison. I am sure a lot of my friends will have them. I am going to want to steal it, or at least test it out," she said, laughing.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Many people who lined up to be the first buyers of Apple Inc.'s iPhone made good on promises to try to flip the gadgets online at inflated prices, but a quick buck appeared out of reach for many.

Auction Web site eBay had more than 400 listings for iPhones just two hours after the combination mobile phone, Web browser and music and video player went on sale on the U.S. East Coast.

But the vast majority of offers failed to attract even a single bid, and many of those that had were not yet above the list prices.

A handful of offers did draw enthusiastic bidding. One eBay auction had attracted 35 bids and a leading offer of $1,520. Another was up to $960 with 25 bids.

The iPhone is available at Apple and AT&T stores in two models costing $500 and $600 depending on whether it has 4 or 8 gigabytes of memory. It requires a service contract from AT&T Inc. that runs at least $1,400 over two years.

Online classifieds site Craigslist had 404 iPhone listings for New York City, with most seeking about $1,000 and one optimist wanting $10,000 from "collectors only."

STEVE JOBS DROPS BY PALO ALTO STORE

The East Coast may have gotten the first iPhones - thanks only to the accident of time zones - but Silicon Valley launched the sale of the gadget in its own style, with Apple's two co-founders separately helping sell the product at stores 19 1/2 miles apart.

Steve Wozniak got in line at 4 a.m. at Westfield Valley Fair mall, handing out T-shirts to mark the event and given the honorary No. 1 spot in line by earlier arrivals.

And in a surprise appearance, Apple co-founder and current CEO Steve Jobs dropped by the Apple store on University Avenue in Palo Alto to greet buyers right after the doors opened at 6 p.m.

The festivities capped months of waiting - the last few hours of them in line for many - for Bay Area Apple fans and some blatant capitalists to finally get their hands on Apple's iPhone.

With prices of the new device hitting $2,000 on sites such as Craigslist and eBay, many who had waited so long couldn't wait to get rid of the device.

Take San Francisco resident Jerry Taylor, 54, who was first to buy the iPhone from Apple's store near Union Square. After a brief moment in the media spotlight, he said he was selling the device, apparently to a mysterious man with a Scandanavian accent who stood next to Taylor, but who declined to give his name.

In spending more than $650 for the gadget, including taxes, Taylor said he was "gambling with this month's rent."

Meanwhile, at the Apple store on University Avenue in Palo Alto, the crowd screamed as the employees opened the door.

"It's mine!," Patrick Scoble, 13, cheered as he walked out of the store as the first customer to buy an iPhone there. "That was just awesome, running through the store, getting high-fives from employees."

"It wasn't like buying just anything," he added.

Other Bay Area Apple and AT&T stores on Friday were surrounded with enthusiasts, opportunists and those simply drawn to the spectacle surrounding the initial sale of Apple's latest gadget. And despite the financial motive of some waiting, many were genuinely excited about the new phone.

At the San Francisco Apple store, several hundred people crowded around the entrance. The throng spilled into the bus lane and across the street, many capturing photos of the black t-shirt-clad Apple employees, clapping on a staircase facing the doors. Pungent marijuana fumes hung in the air.

In case you're one of the few who haven't heard, the iPhone is Apple's first attempt at a cell phone. Hyped for months - even years - the device is built around a large, touch sensitive screen, which takes the place of a physical keypad. Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a coterie of analysts, consumers and enthusiasts have predicted that the device will change the cell phone industry as much as Apple's Macintosh computers and iPod MP3 players changed the PC and music businesses, respectively.

For many, to finally have an iPhone in hand was a nice payoff after a long day - or more - of waiting. Consumers started to form lines at Bay Area Apple and AT&T stores as early as Thursday morning.

Allen Scott queued up at 10 a.m. Thursday, becoming one of the first in line at the Apple store near Union Square in San Francisco. Scott lined up in part to get publicity for his performance group: Peepshow Minigolf, appropriately enough, a kind of carnival act.

"Our tag line is we're bringing the circus to the media," Scott said.

Still, Scott and several members of his group were also eager to get their hands on the phone. Scott, for instance, has a long history of being an early adopter of Apple products.

"I'm a 15-year veteran," he said, pondering the "great expense at which this tech addiction has come."

The iPhone is "the latest and greatest" gadget to add to his collection, he added.

Also standing first in line - this time at the Apple store at Westfield Valley Fair mall - was Wozniak. Even though he reportedly was due to receive an iPhone of his own from Apple on Saturday, Wozniak wanted to wait in a line to experience the moment.

Along with a team of friends, Wozniak handed out crisp, white T-shirts showing a picture of the iPhone and identification tags that marked where people were in line.

"It was just a special enough event - a meaningful event," Wozniak said. "Most of the time you just sort of watch on the news and sometimes you say, `I'm going to be part of it.'

"I just felt like I wanted to be part of something."

Of course, other folks had less lofty reasons for waiting in line. Craigslist was filled with postings on Friday of people willing to sell the iPhone they were about to purchase or charging others to simply wait in line for them. Some posters were asking as much as $2,000 for a phone - in cash.

Among the entrepreneurs were several high schoolers at the Blossom Hill Road AT&T store. Anthony Brasil and Jordan Mott planned to turn around and sell their iPhones on the Web as soon as they had them in hand. The students predicted that they could sell each of their iPhones for as much as $1,100, making more than $400 in the process.

"`I'll just do what I've got to do to make the money," Mott said.

It remains to be seen whether Apple will be able to maintain the first-day enthusiasm - and sales. Sony's PlayStation 3, which was similarly preceded by years of hype before it hit store shelves last November, offers a cautionary tale.

As with the iPhone, enthusiasts and opportunists lined up hours and even days before similarly pricey video game console went on sale last November to be among the first to have it. Thanks to such enthusiasm - and limited shipments - the device instantly sold out. But demand has been tepid ever since, with Nintendo's Wii and even Sony's venerable PlayStation 2 far outselling the formerly "must-have" device.

A few notes on the content of pages:

 

• Once you purchase a phone, you cannot return it the store.
• If you open the box you must pay a 10% restocking fee if you want to return the phone, even if it is a dead phone.
• You only have 14 days to return the phone, after that you are SOL.
• You must own a computer with Windows XP with SP2,  Vista or Mac OS 10.4.10 to activate the phone.
• Only 1 phone per customer  unless you can get through the line a second time.
• If all phones sell out (they plan to in about 1 hour) you can have a phone shipped through priority mail for $15.
• Everyone will be able to get an iPhone, some just may have to wait until it received in the mail, however if the warehouse sells out, again you are SOL.
• You can buy the iPhone and sell it on eBay. That is your right. eBay just banned pre-sales.
• The iPhone Sim card cannot be used in any other phone.
• The only way to use the iPhone features is to have the attached data plan.
• Business accounts cannot use the iPhone. Only a new personal account in your name.
• No discounts whatsoever will be offered.
• The only way to get an iPhone with a pre-paid plan is if you have verified bad credit. Hopefully people wont start screwing up their credit to get one.
• When you do get an iPhone a 2 year contract will be required.
• The included 5 pages titled job aid are a great read. There are many more pages I Iwill scan through.

Enjoy!

 

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One more rumour about the iPhone can be laid to rest. Apple has finally confirmed that the iPhone will support wireless streaming of video content from YouTube. Which happens to be a perfectly symbiotic relationship - supporting YouTube will mean a more panoramic audience for the iPhone, while being on the iPhone will bring YouTube into the mobile market.

Meanwhile, YouTube has been sprucing itself up for the alliance with gusto. iPhone lovers(?) can now look forward to a bouquet of more than 10,000 high quality videos from YouTube for the June 29th launch. Plus, the videos are being encoded in the trim H.264 format to ensure longer battery life of the iPhone.

Apple also jointly announced that YouTube will be available on Apple TV as well. Methinks this gorgeous alliance might prove to be just what the doctor ordered.

I received a circular the other day from AT&T making its merger with Cingular official, just in case I had been living under a rock and didn't realize this happened. Conspicuously missing from this propaganda, however, was any mention of the iPhone. I checked the Home page of AT&T Wireless and again nothing.

Give AT&T credit for being more modest than Cingular was when it announced the merger with an announcement that looked like a wedding invitation, but given the opportunity to trumpet the fact it is the exclusive distributor of the Apple iPhone, AT&T completely dropped the ball. In fact, with the iPhone release party scheduled for June 29th, I have yet to receive word one from AT&T about it.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I think the marketing folks at AT&T are failing to grasp the significance of what they have here, a market literally waiting for them, one that could convince people otherwise loyal another cell provider to switch allegiances.

I've seen ads from Apple for the iPhone, but thus far, so far as I know, AT&T has been silent on the subject. This is just strange. Perhaps, Apple has tied AT&T's hands in order to control the message. You have to hope there's logical explanation because otherwise, AT&T doesn't have a clue about what it has here.

If you’re thinking of setting up a domain to capitalize on the launch of the iPhone, forget it. All the good ones are already taken. Most of them by domain squatters with nothing but links to sponsored ad pages.

From iPhoneForums.com, iPhoneHome.com, iPhoneYou.com, iPhoneMama.com - oh! WAIT! I found iPhonePapa.com it’s available!!! {at time of writing}

These domains will probably provide absolutely no value to the visitor except a sponsored link to click on. This kind of activity is expected but the truth of the matter is that related websites to a popular product do well and even provide some good resources, when done by people not looking for a quick buck. Sadly, this is the state of the internet.

I’m not condoning the act of registering domain names for money, I’m just pointing something out which is true.

But, on the flip side you will see some true die hard fans taking their loyalty to new levels, like this site with iPhone in their domain name - iphone new york city.

Well most of the good ones are gone, so now you’re going to have to get creative with slicing up words with periods and seeing if it will work with sub domains, like i.Phonelicio.us - which is available by the way. {at time of writing}

But is it really worth it? Well, most people will probably end up making a boat load of cash with CPC ads before Apple’s lawyers send you their elegant C&D letters. I’m sure the letters come as neatly packaged as their products.

Meanwhile iPhone mania is sweeping the U.S and everywhere you turn it’s an iPhone Ad, an iPhone rumor, an iPhone article, a giant iPhone etc…

If you didn’t notice yet they got a new “bigger” hand model to make the iPhone look tiny.

Watch a 20 min guided tour video from Apple

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