17-year-old hacks iPhone to work with T-Mobile
Steve Safran August 24th, 2007
For just the second time, someone has managed to hack an iPhone. This time, a skilled teenager managed to free an iPhone from the shackles of AT&T. 17-year-old George Holz of New Jersey cracked open his iPhone and hacked it, and now it works with his T-Mobile account. It’s not an easy hack - it takes two hours and requires soldering and software work. He has blogged instructions for the hack, and the phone is now for sale on eBay. You have to admire the kid for cracking the case (and voiding the warranty) on an expensive piece of hardware. He can’t get the visual voicemail to work but otherwise, he says, the phone works fine.
6 Comments Add your own
1. Rob | August 24th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
32 bids and the current bid is $4,500? Is a cellphone that can be used with T-Mobile worth that much?
2. adm | August 24th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
can you clarify what you mean when you say the “second” time.
i think this kid and his cohorts are technically the first to unlock the phone.
earlier today, engadget announced another group of people who have provided the first software-based unlocking method.
i think the reason the phone is getting such high bids on ebay is that it is the first unlocked iphone to be made publicly available. but due to the extraordinary attention on the auction and the likely high number of hoax bids, i’d be surprised if the kid ever ends up with the money, especially now that the software-based hack, which reportedly only takes a couple minutes, is available.
3. fleetwood mack | August 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Also…
Aren’t they already selling “reconditioned” iPhones at a discount which means how many were returned after being bought?
LR was in love with iPhone. Now how about some reporting?
4. yankee_guy | August 24th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Current bid: US $99,999,999.00 !!! read bottom of listing: I am trying to get a hold of eBay right now as I am sure many of these bids are fraudulent. Please do not bid if you do not intend to buy.
5. Buildaposter | August 27th, 2007 at 4:43 am
This 17 year old is a genius. He should get a atleast a high paying tech job from some where. He spent a whole summer working on it. The result …. Front page of every newspaper, television news program and the most web traffic that I’ve seen in a while. This young man is already famous and Im thimking we will be hearing more about this for days to come.
6. Anonymous | March 26th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
gjgjg
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