David: How many people do you think run unlocked iPhones? How do you come up with your numbers?

Shawn: We sell about 500-1000 iPhone's a moth to our overseas vendors and we aren't the only ones. Judging from the numbers from Apple and AT&T if there are 1 million unactivated iPhones running around that has to mean there are at least 1 million unlocked iPhones. By being the first company to offer a solution to unlock the iPhone in the US our call log counted over 2000 phone calls the first day alone with over 1000 orders coming in. I would have to say that there are about another half million unlocked iPhones running on AT&T's network right now mostly for people who travel internationally or simply did not want to sign another 2 year contract with AT&T.

After all that, can't Apple just brick the phone the next time they issue a software upgrade? Sure they can, they made the phone and they can do whatever they want to it. But of course it would be bad for business if they did. Their track record speaks for itself. They made that mistake once and I highly doubt they will repeat it again.

David: Overall, is it worth it to do this? How can the risk be reduced? And what final guidance do you have for our readers considering this grey area?

Shawn: There is no risk involved anymore. You just need to ask yourself a few questions question. Are you good with reading directions? Would you like to mail in your phone to us to perform the unlocking for you? Or simply purchase a pre-unlocked iPhone?

In short, I myself have an iPhone and love it. Before the iPhone, I used a RAZR on Verizon for two years and carried my iPod Nano with me everywhere I went. I no longer have a Nano and just carry one device around every where I go. It makes life so much simpler. You really get hooked onto it after carrying it around for a week.

My final word is if you don't have the time, if you are still scared of bricking your iPhone, if you have no faith in yourself and still want an iPhone just not on AT&T, then just purchase one that has already been unlocked.

And once again I would like to simply point out something my father once taught me as a child. "If its not broken don't fix it". I can't stress this enough when it comes to software updates for the iPhone.

I always suggest being patient and waiting for our newsletter to give you advice on how to go about performing a safe update while keeping your iPhone unlocked. And keep in mind that it will also take weeks to come up with a safe update once Apple has released the software.

I would personally like to thank all those in the iPhone dev team as well as the people that created the installer application to allow for the possibility of unlocking the iPhone.

Heather Wardell received her first Palm handheld in 1997 (from a boss who couldn't get the hang of Graffiti) and has never looked back. She worked in banking as a systems analyst for four years, and then moved into elementary education, teaching computers at a private elementary school for four years. Heather is now a full-time writer with two main specialties: articles that explain how a particular technology works, and short stories that usually involve technology run amok. You can reach her on the Web at http://www.heatherwardell.com.