iPhone unlocked 'within hours', hackers say

Hackers striving to 'unlock' Apple's iPhone so that it will work with any SIM card inside it said today they were within hours of reaching their goal.

Since Friday evening, a community of hackers around the world have been exchanging details about the iPhone's system in an attempt to understand how to 'activate' the device with any SIM card - including a European - rather than those of AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the phone.

A successful hack would mean that the iPhones that have now gone on sale eBay for as much as $1,000 could be made to work in Europe, even though the device is not due out here until the end of the year, experts said.