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With iPhones already out in the wild, albeit in small numbers, I am positively amazed that no reports have drifted through major Apple blogs about attempts to use the iPhone on T-Mobile’s network. Apparently, the horribly locked phone requires activation with its included SIM card to work even on AT&T’s network, so it’s quite evident that Apple and AT&T took significant steps to lock down the phone to one network. (Like most phones, one can’t just swap out the default SIM card with an existing, working AT&T SIM card.)

Nonetheless, the measures reported thus far to keep the iPhone locked to AT&T don’t appear to be absolute disqualifiers for “unapproved” use of the iPhone on another network. The hardware itself, for example, needs to be flexible enough to operate on networks approved by Apple outside of the United States, and early reports all point at the European contract holder being T-Mobile. While I’m not savvy as to the technical differences between T-Mobile’s network in Europe versus the United States, I do know that U.S. T-Mobile customers can use their phones overseas given changes to their monthly plans (i.e. European roaming), so it’s not a huge stretch to assume iPhones sold in the United States can similarly be adapted to work on non-AT&T networks.

Given this, where the frack are the requisite iPhone hacks? C’mon, people, get with the SIM-card shifting and hardware analysis. I’m giving you sixty days post-release to find a solution, and I do expect a solution.

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