Behind the scenes: Unlocking iPhones in Vietnam

Every obstacle presents an opportunity. I saw this first-hand in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The obstacle in question: the iPhone 3G. Since its launch, it has proven a much tougher nut to crack than the original iPhone. Without a viable software-based unlock solution, the only way to make the phone work with any GSM carrier has been the use of a proxy SIM. Put this piece of very thin circuitboard in the iPhone 3G on top of the carrier's SIM, and you can make calls and text on a new network.

(I did experience some problems using the proxy SIM, including short battery life, instability and, most seriously, incompatibility with iTunes.)

Unfortunately, the recently released 2.2 software update has, for now, made the iPhone 3G impossible to unlock — unless you happen to be in Hanoi. Here, I met a man who takes the job quite seriously and gets it done the hard way, literally.

His name is Tuan Anh Do (shown above at his repair shop), and he's a 29-year-old businessman who owns five mobile-phone repair shops. A big part of his business is servicing the iPhone and iPhone 3G, and that often involves getting those devices unlocked at the hardware level.