Today’s the day that the iPhone Dev Team have promised to release their iPhone PWNAGE tool (EDIT: but unfortunately they’re spending another week polishing the release, so expect it next weekend), which allows owners to flash custom unsigned firmware onto their handsets while also maintaining compatibility with official Apple firmware updates and, eventually, software from the Apple App Store.  According to claims from the development team, the key to PWNAGE’s success is its persistence: unlike existing Jailbreak workarounds, which similarly allow third-party software to run on the iPhone, but which usually need to be reworked every time Apple releases a firmware update, PWNAGE will operate unhindered no matter the firmware version.  That also includes compatibility with iPhone Firmware 2.0, not scheduled for launch until July, but which some users have managed to “acquire” early. 

Check out the iPhone Dev Team’s demo video of PWNAGE after the cut 

Future developments of the PWNAGE software - which will be released today for Mac users, with a Windows version expected later on – will even allow you to install different OSes onto the iPhone, for example giving you the option to dual-boot into OS X or Linux.  The new app was launched at the iPhone 3.0 Party held in Moscow.

Pwnage Presentation in Moscow
MOSCOW, Russia, March 29, 2008

Today key members of “The iPhone DevTeam” demonstrated the long-awaited software application “Pwnage Tool”. The demonstration took place at the iPhone 3.0 party which brought together hundreds of iPhone hardware and software enthusiasts.

*The software is a self contained application (for MacOS 10.4.x and 10.5.x) that allows all current models of the iPhone device to be “Pwned”. This term (in relation to this software) refers to the patching of the stock bootloader so that it will allow the execution of unsigned code and circumvent code-signing checks. “Pwnage” only needs to be performed once to allow the additional features on the iPhone.

*The application also processes and modifies existing Apple archives so that unique, custom rolled firmware bundles can be installed onto the “Pwned” iPhone directly from iTunes.
These ”.ipsw” files can be created and patched by the application to allow third-party modifications such as activation, application installation, baseband modification, custom phone graphics etc.

*The tool works automatically on box-fresh (OTB) 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 iPhones and requires minimal interaction from the user.

*The tool also ships with an iPhone application that is automatically installed and run on first boot (if the user requests it) that is called “BootNeuter”, This will enable “Bootneutering” of the iPhone baseband allowing custom firmware to be installed. Arbitrary secpacks and fls files will be accepted when the device is in this state, please refer to the application help file for specific information.

If the user has access to developer versions of the iPhone software (such as 1.2 or 2.0) provisions have been made to support this software and allow it to be used on any device. This will be useful for legitimate SDK trialists to install their software on more than one device, this should not be used unless you are an official member of the SDK programme.

[via iPhone Buzz]