Don't worry, the black market is working hard to get you a new iPhone!

Here's a bit more updated information for you guys:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-half-adds-40-countries-to-itunes-store-app-store/

China has been added to the list of countries with iTunes stores. I don't know if its fully functional or if it will work with the iPhone. I'm guessing it will, the iPhone is released in HK too.

As for jailbreaking a 3G iPhone, you can check for updates here:http://www.proxy4china.com/ind...

Their latest update about unlocking 3G iPhones: "UPDATE: So guys, the out of the box tests on retail hardware are great. Everything works as we anticipated. This is great news, seriously. No riddles or jokes or cryptic messages now, watch this space."

They could also just grey import from New Zealand and a couple of other countries (mostly European), where the iPhone 3G is also being sold without the sim-lock.

DVD Jon is the famous hacker who broke encryption on DVDs and last year wrote a software fix that allowed the Iphone to run as an Ipod without being activated by AT&T.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...

I am not an Iphone user so I apologise for any confusion about the difference software fixes that free up your Iphone to operate local sim cards and others that allow unofficial apps to run on your phone. As far as I was concerned, it was all part of the same process of freeing your phone from network/ Apple control.

My point about China is that hundreds of thousands of handsets have been sold on the grey market. I was merely wondering how Chinese users could run jailbroken apps and Itunes apps side by side. I am sure it is only a matter of time before software is released that allows Iphone users to have the best of both worlds. If this has already been solved then please let me know, but I was listening to Randall Schwartz on Mac Break Weekly say that he would hold out until the full jailbroken experience was available for the Iphone 3G before he bought one.

Apple does not yet have an Itunes store that works in China so there are some paid for apps that Chinese users will not be able to buy until this changes. I have a UK registered bank account so I can use the UK store to purchase content and software from the Itunes store. If this has changed for Chinese users, please correct me.

to follow on with boredengineer - how can apple "Apple is going to have find a way to bring the Middle Kingdom back into the fold." - since they're not officially sold here in the first place?

I'm pretty sure 99% of the users here are running jailbroken AND unlocked phones (the other 1% would be roaming from the US or Europe - and soon Hong Kong).

Purchasing through iTunes doesn't work anyways for Chinese users (as far as I am aware) - the only way I can buy through iTunes is using my US based credit card. (this could be completely wrong though)

By the way, the iPhone 2.0 firmware has already been hacked to allow programs to run alongside AppStore programs. I'm not sure whether or not the 3G iPhone can be jailbroken/unlocked yet as its too new and either people haven't had time to figure out the new bootloader, or they're being tight-lipped about it for the time being.

"Given that a quarter of Iphone users are running jailbroken handsets in China, Apple is going to have find a way to bring the Middle Kingdom back into the fold. Otherwise, all those Chinese Iphone users are not going to be able to download official apps even if they want to pay for them."

First of all, jailbreak does not mean unlock. Who is this DVD John guy?

A quarter of Iphone users are running jailbroken handsets in China? Are you saying a quarter of worldwide iphone users? or a quarter of all the iphones in China are jailbroken? Both are incorrect.

And why couldn't jailbroken and unlocked iPhones download apps from the appstore? And what does that have to do with what percentage of apps need to be paid for?

Sorry, I'm just having a really tough time trying to figure out what you're trying to say.

The new Iphone 3G is not much of a hardware upgrade apart from 3G and GPS.

The biggest change is the availability of downloadable apps from the Itunes store. This is available to Iphone 1 users who upgrade to Itunes 7.7 and Iphone 2.0 firmware.

There are some really promising apps such as Evernote and Modium, but there is no VOIP app at the Itunes store. You will need to jailbreak

It will be a little while before people like DVD John find a way to jailbreak the new Iphone firmware so it can be run freely in China, and the unofficial apps like Fring (for VOIP) can be run on the same handset as the Itunes apps.

It is also worth noting that 75 percent of downloadable Itunes apps have to be paid for. Given that a quarter of Iphone users are running jailbroken handsets in China, Apple is going to have find a way to bring the Middle Kingdom back into the fold. Otherwise, all those Chinese Iphone users are not going to be able to download official apps even if they want to pay for them.

I have been following this story closely, although I am an annoyed Windows Mobile user who is waiting for the arrival of Android handsets to kick Apple up its derriere for being so closed and arrogant.

I bet they didn't even contribute to GeoHotz.

(I do take that back - there is one guy in China who has done a lot, but I forget his name)

Yeah I can't stand that. These guys say they are working hard to hack your phone??? All they're doing is waiting by an iPhone hacking forum for something to be released, then charging money and taking credit for it.

"The Chinese are good at unlocking"

Bullshit. The Chinese are good at piggybacking on the work of others (at least with regards to the iphone) - every significant breakthrough in iphone unlocking has been from George Hotz or the iPhone dev team (Zimbri and those guys).

What's the point if we don't have a 3G network?