t was announced yesterday that a second company was preparing to provide software that would unlock the Apple iPhone and allow it to be used on any GSM network worldwide. The announcement, which came from mobile phone unlocking company UniquePhones, promised the software would be available to consumers today (August 25th), for a price between $25 and $50.

The initial team, which proved their iPhone unlocking software works, iPhoneSIMfree.com has not yet publically released their software. They have, however, unlocked phones for press outlets. Their delay in releasing would have made the Uniquephones solution the first publically available unlocking tool.

Unfortunately, alleged legal warnings from AT&T via a law firm out of Silicon Valley, have seemingly put a halt on the process. According to the project's blog,

It is now 12N EST – the time when we said we would be offering iphone unlocking software to our customers.

We have the software. It works. And we are ready to go.

Seems AT&T is a bit annoyed at the idea. A middle of the night phone call from a Silicon Valley law firm is slowing down the release of the software to you.

Stay tuned.

It might come as no surprise that Apple or AT&T would want to put the brakes on a publically available unlock, although it is not entirely clear on what legal grounds they would block the unlock. Laws on iPhone unlocking vary widely from country to country and state to state and have historically been difficult to enforce.

The Uniquephones iPhone unlocking team has indicated they will issue a press release later today. Stay tuned for more information.

Labels: iPhone

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