There's never any substitute for independent verification, but we can understand why the UniquePhones crew wanted to whip up a video depicting the SIM unlock of an iPhone using their still-unreleased solution. With almost a half million signed up to be notified of the hack's release, to say they're getting harshed on by the tech community for the MIA unlock software is kind of an understatement. Despite the five points we're giving their crew for the effort, this is the part where the conspiracy theorists in the house are sure to chime in about the impossibility of an honest to goodness iPhone SIM unlock video produced by a company that specializes in unlocking phones. Well, fret not, we're still waiting eagerly to put the spurs to the hack ourselves, and we'll let you know in short order as soon as (or if ever) we snag it. Oh, video after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Hey, that's what they claim: $100,000 in cold hard cash for the right to freely distribute the iPhone unlocking software onto the Nets. Full credit given to the creator(s) of course with a proposed release date of Wed night at 12:00am (in some unspecified time zone). No details as to who is financial backing the offer or how payments will be made, only a single email address posted for discussing the details. Hear that UniquePhones and IPhoneSIMfree, here's your chance to make a buck and avoid a legal tussle with AT&T / Apple. Of course, anyone can launch a Blogspot site announcing pretty much anything they'd like. If nothing else, the move illustrates perfectly the demand for the software unlock to be released for general consumption. Let's hope it means more.

[Thanks, Gussy]

The latest post over at the UniquePhones blog says it pretty succinctly, but the group (which is apparently still in a legal quagmire with regard to the sale of its software) is claiming they've been presented with "incredible changes" today, which will result in a "clear response" and everyone "[getting] what [they] are looking for" in the next few days. What that specifically means we don't really know, but the question on everyone's lips remains: is UniquePhones's claim to have SIM unlock software a hoax or stunt? We still don't have any idea about that, either -- no one's seen or verified the technique. Still, we've already seen that a software SIM unlock is possible, so it's not like this is really hard to believe, nor is it something a company whose entire business is cellphone unlocking would want to risk its cred over. Either way, somebody had better get cracking releasing this stuff (pun so intended), else we'll be seeing an explosion of newbs attempting The Hotz Method and wreckifying their devices.

[Thanks, PainCorp]

Hope you weren't waiting in tense anticipation to get your hands on Uniquephone's iPhone unlock software, because things certainly aren't going as planned. Reportedly, the gurus behind the software unlock were contacted by "a Silicon Valley law firm" who is "slowing down the release of the software." Of course, they still claim to have the app "ready to go," but until this legal hubbub gets cleared up, it seems like their method of freeing your iPhone will remain a well kept secret. We'll keep you posted.

The iPhone is getting used and abused today with a second software-only unlocking solution making itself known. Uniquephones has now surprised with word that it will be offering a downloadable software unlock service between 12 and 2 PM EST tomorrow at iphoneunlocking.com. Pricing will be somewhere between $25 and $50 with a 25 to 50 percent discount for people who have already signed up for the service -- apparently as many as 450,000 already have.

Read - iPhone Unlockers Lining Up
Read - iPhoneunlocking.com (not active until tomorrow)

Alright, so it's not entirely impossible to unlock the iPhone, but we'd wager that the majority of folks looking to do so would enjoy keeping the whole "phone" functionality in tact. Enter UniquePhones, a Belfast-based firm that is reportedly on the verge of developing an application that will "allow customers to unlock their Apple iPhones so they can use SIM cards from carriers other than AT&T to activate the mobiles." The firm's founder has stated that a team of engineers are frantically working to "break the encryption process that protects the token sent through the iTunes activation process to an iPhone's firmware." Users can expect to pay around $49.99 for the software necessary to unlock the handset (if it indeed surfaces), but a number of analysts have unsurprisingly suggested that the loop would again be closed by Apple the very next time dubious users synced with iTunes.