The iPhone Dev Team has promised unlock software for the iPhone and it has delivered it. I don’t know if you were thinking about unlocking the iPhone when you were popping that champagne open but today might be a great day to do it. The software is available for download with detailed instructions to help your transition from your default iPhone carrier to your favorite iPhone carrier. Here’s what you need to know about yellowsn0w version 0.9.4 beta:

BASICS

* The unlock works exclusively with baseband 02.28.00. This baseband is provided by the latest firmware update (2.2) from Apple. You’ll need to upgrade to this release using iTunes and then use QuickPwn to activate etc. There are plenty of tutorials about this on iclarified, bigboss, and other established tutorial sites. Because it works on 02.28.00, it is available to everyone on the planet. This means we don’t need to unnecessarily expose holes in earlier basebands, which is an important concern.
* The application is a small daemon that is launched on boot. It injects the payload at boot and also whenever there is a baseband reset. You won’t notice anything about it other than that your third-party sim now works. It’s a small program and unobtrusive. There is no GUI (this is by design).
* You can add the application using the sources outlined below (coming soon). There are Cydia and Installer sources available, so use whichever you are comfortable using.
* yellowsn0w is completely removable through Cydia, the command line, and iTunes.

DETAILS

* There is a known issue with SIM cards that have STK (SIM Toolkit) application menus. These menus are usually items such as “top up” “get credit” “lotto numbers” etc. These menu items confuse the application sometimes. Removing and reinserting the SIM once after reboot (give it about 10 secs 60 seconds (with v0.9.1) after you see the slide to unlock widget) fixes this issue. We’re working on a better fix. Update: version 0.9.4 fixes this for many (but probably not all) users who previously had to wait a minute and then replug the sim.
* For those of you using SIM cards without STK menus, the application has some optional arguments that will make the unlock much faster for you. So either experiment on your own (use “yellowsn0w -h” for usage) or wait for a customization writeup.
* After you install yellowsn0w via Cydia, you should return to the Cydia main menu then reboot your iPhone with the 3rd party SIM installed. Wait for the slide to unlock screen, then wait 10 or 15 secs more. If you don’t see your carrier name pop up, then remove your SIM, reinsert it, and wait 10 secs more. This is the step we’ll be working on eliminating next.

RANDOM

* The application is version 0.9 0.9.1 0.9.4 This is considered beta software, you use it at your own risk. You know the score.
* The application is released on a non-commerical basis. Please do not accept pirates and scummy ripoffs of this software. We license this software for single use and in a non-commerical environment (meaning you can’t charge for it). The techniques and methods used are not to be used by third party companies. We are watching you Jody…we won’t be so forgiving this time.
* Direct linking to the repository URLs is prohibited, please only link to this post. We will be checking referers.
* Happy 2009 and enjoy!

Just follow the instructions above taken straight from the iPhone Dev Team’s blog and let us know if the yellowst0ne beta worked for you.

Initial reports of iPhone Dev Team’s yellowst0ne unlock software for the iPhone 3G said that the application will arrive on New Year’s Eve. Well it looks like things have changed in the mean time. Dev Team member MuscleNerd said he will be using Qik on a first generation iPhone to stream the first official live presentation of an iPhone 3G to be unlocked with yellowst0ne. The live demo was scheduled for today at 3:00PM EST and it was announced on MuscleNerd’s Twitter account. And he did stream it!

In under 4 minutes MuscleNerd showed us live how easy is to unlock the iPhone 3G. He has just switched the AT&T SIM with one from T-Mobile, he ran yellowst0ne, and everything else is history. It is all right there in the video above! The application is arriving on New Year’s Eve day so get your AT&T contract ready! You will be canceling it soon!

via Qik