"3" Hutchison has released iPhone3G today in Hong Kong.
My friend got on the first 500 buyer list... supposely 1500 landed in HK and its short of stock.
But anyway... I have put in a SIM Card from a different carrier and it works.

So my guess is that it is not SIM locked... but you can only activate it at the store besides not being able to buy it as a standalone unit.

Can some other early adopters please try this too?

I dont want to switch to "3" as they have a really crappy network in HK... news is that other carriers will soon have it too... "3" is only given the privillege to be the first to release it in HK.

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Confirmed. I am one of the 500 and am holding one that is unlocked. I was also advised by my account manager that all iPhones 3G sold by "3" are unlocked.

Don't forget, however, that when you buy the phone you will also have to commit to 24 months contract signed before they let you have the phone.

Confirmed here as well...using SmarTone Vodafone. So I guess we would need some sort of in-store activation bypass for people who are buying the phones "outside" of 3.

Confirmed too, would like to know if this apply to other countries too.

Don't have to activate in-store, end user can download the latest iTunes i.e. 7.7 and activate by themselves. Once activated, you don't need to reactivate again if you plug-in other operator SIM.

However, never tried if can activate the iPhone using SIM other than 3.:p

guys im flying into HK tomorrow Saturday from Japan and im from the UK. is there a way i can b uy a 3g phone and not sign up to a contract? im only there for 2 days ;-(
ta
JWCR

can i pls tell me where store did you buy from.
U said you don't have to activate in store.
Can u tell the exaxt price and store location
thanks
niksy_nik7

can anyone else confirm i cant wait!!!!!!!

Why is that? it doesn't make any sense that Apple selling offically unlocked iPhones that simple? right?

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iPhone 3GS 32G White - Offically Unlocked - 3.1.3
iPhone 3G 8G Black - Sold.
iPhone 2G 16G - Sold.
iPhone 2G 8G - Sold.

I could be wrong but maybe due to some legal reasons i.e. China requires all phones to be sold unlock that sortof thing