Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

I’ve had this sitting on my Mac for over a week. So, when I say I’ve had the iPhone since last Friday, I mean I’ve had it since the day it was officially launched. Let me know what you think of the new iPhone and/or the latest firmware. I’ve heard a lot of bad reports on the new software - I’ve experienced a lot of problems - ranging from slowness to email not working from time to time.

GeoHot, the creator of first iPhone hack has recently launched a Web site. It’s unknown whether he’ll release a hack for the new 2.0 firmware though. The iPhone-dev team responded to the launch of the site with venom. Not sure why as it’s a compliment that others want to copy their work - especially because they’re all hackers. It doesn’t make sense for a hacker to complain about another hacker hacking their work. Does it?

Here’s the dev teams response

Rush, rush, rush….
Over the last year we’ve discovered some interesting things about the software used in the iPhone. These “hacks” , “exploits” and “techniques”, or whatever you want to call them, are valuable - not only from a financial perspective (so scummy people can sell unlocking software) but also from a strategic point of view. Think of it like a game of poker, showing your hand too early would certainly make you lose “the game”.

The majority of iPhone users are not technical - they want an easy, one-stop, simple application that will allow them to quickly and painlessly unlock their phone. If we were to release a crummy command-line based tool that does the immediate job that everyone is screaming for, we’d only end up in the following situation:

1) The technique is released to the world and people use this technique to quickly create GUI apps that they charge cash-money for, or re-release something hacky and horrible that bricks lots of devices, or for example disables the Wi-Fi that then causes more stress that ultimately comes back to us

2) The technique is exposed to the vendor, allowing them to locate and repair the security hole. Sometimes these security holes span product versions, for example: between the first generation and second generation iPhone. In such a case releasing the knowledge in the middle of the product development cycle is pointless and risks the “usefulness” of the technique - especially if there are existing hacks/techniques that work just fine.

The iPhone DevTeam is comprised of a group of people who work together over IRC from various parts of the world. This distributed method of working happens 24 hours a day with people performing tasks in the time that best suits their time-zones. It is a completely self-managing, self-regulating and member-funded organization. Most of us have never met face-to-face and we rarely know real names - in fact, we would more than likely not recognize each other if we walk past one another on the street. Despite this we follow a strict “hacker code”: ground rules by which we all abide.

Perhaps the foremost of these rules is management of knowledge. We keep certain information private, restricted to members of the team only (to help with points 1 and 2 above), and members are entrusted to make sure this secrecy is consistently enforced. This makes the team. Only when there is a majority vote from the team do we make any announcement or release.

So now we come onto Geohot, the self appointed media frontman for last year’s iPhone hacks. Geohot actually worked with us a month or so before the media-circus that he led. Geohot is certainly a bright guy, but he couldn’t abide by rules that I described in the last paragraph and because of this he was asked to leave the team. Of course like any hacker Geohot continued on for his goal.

Using some of our techniques and tools (and some of his) and using his own brain power (and that of an unnamed Russian) he was able to release his hardware hack and demonstrate the first unlocked iPhone to the world, he has also demonstrated other things during the last year and some of those releases have helped us with our work.

We thought that Geohot would have matured somewhat in the last year, but this clearly isn’t the case, as sadly one of the team members has leaked a copy of our exploit to Geohot and he is now using this to try and provoke us into making an early release

So finally, just in case some of you were wondering, we’re not sitting on this tool because we’re full of ourselves or stuck up our own asses. We’re not sitting on it cause we like to see you writhe. We are testing it to make sure it’s as glitch-free as we can make it. We want to avoid releasing something that turns expensive phones into pretty looking paperweights. Don’t you agree it’s worth the wait?

If others want to feel like they’re in control by posting all-knowing entries on their blogs, we can’t stop that, but the new PwnageTool will be released when it’s ready, and not a moment later.

Zibri, the maker of ZiPhone decided to add to these curious happenings:

Talks, lies, haters, fans.
I’m sick of this!
This is not a war and not even a game.
I originally developed ZiPhone for my own use.
Then people asked me to release it and I did.
I bought my first iPhone in September 2007.
I released ZiPhone in February 2008.
I know you people are crazy about the iPhone
but believe me, I am not.
I think the 3g iPhone is not worth even buying
for people who already have the
first generation iPhone.
GPS ? I have a TomTom Go device.
3G data ? I have a 7.2 Mb/s card
in my laptop.
Apps ?
I have my iPhone.
Everything else ?
I have my life !

IF and WHEN there will be a new
ZiPhone you will be informed.
Stop asking, hating, begging.
By the way,
Maybe you don’t know the difference,
But ZiPhone was a real hack.
Software upgrades or custom firmwares
are a totally different thing.
A nice proof of concept, a nice work, but
that’s not hacking..
But if that will ever be released
and that suits your needs,
use it. You’ll be (hopefully) happy.

Another note:
I’m being reported of many people
faking me on many blogs and sites.
Check the profile (if there’s one).
And don’t take as gold any word from me that
you don’t read here !

To any hacker out there:
FACTS speaks louder than words.

Peace out,
Zibri

Read the original post here.

Original source: Florian Seroussi via Twitter.

So, no expected time of arrival for the hack. Are you having problems with the 2.0 firmware? I’m going to do a vblog review of the new 3G iPhone including the 2.0 software so I’ll save my thoughts for that.

[Update: 12th July. ZIPhone will not work on ver 2.0 of the iPhone software. It's not possible to unlock or jailbreak the new software at the time of writing this update - at least none that I could find anyway]

Download ZIPhone now (opens in a different window)

Do you want to use the iPhone on any network? Do you want to install applications for free? Are you dishonest?

If the answer to the above questions is yes, then download ZIPhone now. You can continue to sync with iTunes and if you want to revert your phone back to its original state (to take in for a repair) simply ‘restore’ it via iTunes. It really is that simple.

When you Jailbreak the phone, an ‘installer’ icon will appear on your desktop, through which you search for, and install applications. The 2.0 software enables your iPhone to access an applications directory via iTunes but they’re likely to charge and be restricted to a small number of partners.

I’m naturally very honest and only answered yes to two of the above questions

Thanks to Aido for the tip - naturally he’s too honest to do any of this. I think he overhead someone talking about this stuff in the pub.

If you decide to jailbreak your iPhone, I hear Twinkle is a brilliant Twitter client and sketches is pretty cool for scribbling on photos - which you can also send direct to Twitter. MxTube is useful if you want to download videos from YouTube - in other words, you’re not restricted to streaming.

You should check out the Qik application too - it allows you to stream live to the Web right from your iPhone - even though the iPhone doesn’t come with a native video recorder. Now, that’s innovation.

Have fun and leave a comment if you know of any cool applications. Unfortunately I won’t be able to install them as I’m too honest.

Visit the original ZIPhone download site.

[Update 19:21 - I've just tried to reinstall the software. It managed to delete what I had but failed to restore it. "Unable to complete your iTunes store request'. So, looks like I'm back to the old one for now]

I appear to be experiencing authentication issues and starting to wonder if it’s a widespread problem, or just me. My POP email is behaving weird. It took at least 20 attempts before it authenticated my details. When I finally managed to get it working it only downloaded one email from today and two from yesterday. How weird is that?! There’s no logic to the issues I’m experiencing.

I’m still unable to sync mobile me with my Mac Pro. The account is setup but it fails to authenticate when I try to sync.

I’m wondering if there’s a general authentication issue due to server load. Are you aware of known authentication issues with the new 3G iPhone or the old phone with version 2.0 of the software?