Separate efforts by a New Jersey teenager and a commercial group have led to different ways to unlock the Apple's iPhone and allow the device to connect to other wireless carriers.

George Hotz, a 17-year-old resident of Glen Rock, NJ, announced on his blog on Thursday that he had found a way -- with the judicious use of a soldering iron and tools to erase and rewrite the firmware -- to unlock the iPhone. Hotz outlined the steps on his blog and is selling the phone on eBay.

"I'm sorry about how hard they are to follow, but someone will get them to work, and simplify them, and simplify them more," he said of the ten steps his method requires to unlock the phone. "Hopefully a software unlock will be found in the near future."

Unknown to Hotz, that's exactly what has happened. A group calling itself IPhoneSimFree has claimed to have unlocked the iPhone just via software -- a claim that has been verified by mobile-device news site Engadget. By unlocking the phone, the group claims that any provider can be used in any country.

Hardware hackers worldwide have kept up a sustained effort this summer to crack the iPhone. At least one serious vulnerability has been found in software included with the device, and hackers have discovered ways to get non-Apple software to install and run on the iPhone. Last November, the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that security researchers who circumvent security measures to use their phone on another carrier's network are exempted from prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

On its Web site, IPhoneSimFree offered its technique for sale to groups that want to unlock 500 or more iPhones.

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