More iPhone craziness. When everyone on the entire planet is desperately wanting to get one but can’t, some guys in the US bought a couple, then proceeded to immediately and systematically take apart a perfectly new and perfectly working unit. And take pictures. Gulp.

(What I want to know is, can we see if we can swap GSM SIM cards on this thing? *wink wink* )

See these wonderful lunatics over at ifixit.com.

Look if you dare.

UPDATE: The ifixit page is a work in progress (they update the page as they go along) - and it’s just been a few hours since they got the phone. Apparently my question’s just been answered - it looks damned difficult, but entirely possible. See the pic below, upper left - the Cingular SIM! I think a Globe, Smart or Sun SIM would look pretty at home there. Now the next question is, can we activate it through iTunes with an alien SIM inside? Better question is, do we need to? (Hey, purely theoretical discussion here, folks. Just some geek talk. Don’t mind me.)

UPDATE II: Was watching an excruciatingly-difficult-to-watch episode of Systm, where host David Randolph and guest host Leah Culver (who’s a dead-ringer for Veronica Mars’s Kristen Bell) of Pownce stress-test, torture and take apart an iPhone literally minutes after they buy it (stuff like dropping it onto the pavement from six feet up, or deliberately scratching it up with keys), and found out that you can after all just pop out the SIM card by pressing down on a teeny-tiny recessed button on the top of the unit. (By regulation, it has to be removable anyway.) This fact is probably somewhere in the downloadable manual, which I have yet to read. Good to know.

First “unboxing” picture gallery of the iPhone up over on Engadget.

Go ahead, torture yourselves.

Meantime, Apple has posted the iPhone manual up for download.

It’s not all about the iPhone. Life goes on.

Apple’s also released Software Update 1.0 for the MacBook Pro. Fire up SU again.

Apple’s always-detailed and helpful fine print says:

This update provides important bug fixes and is recommended for all 2.2/2.4GHz MacBook Pro models.

Ostensibly this is being issued to address complaints about graphics issues and improve the Nvidia drivers. And make it work better with the iPhone too?

Got this in my e-mail a couple of hours ago from Apple.

*sigh*

Meantime, Apple’s put up an iPhone Accessories page, and another set of short instructional videos called Finger Tips on the main iPhone page.

Fire up Software Update again (not that most of us outside the US really need to for this one). Apple just posted an update to iTunes, Version 7.3, which includes the software needed to activate the iPhone being released today, among other things.

This is what iTunes 7.3 does, according to the fine print:

With iTunes 7.3, you can now activate iPhone service and sync it with your music, TV shows, movies and more. Also, you can now wirelessly share and enjoy your favorite digital photos from any computer in your home with Apple TV.

It’s a few hours early. Was thinking they’d roll this out at the same exact time the iPhone is released. Big sucker too. 24MB on my PPC Mac desktop, 34MB on my Powerbook and 56.13MB on the Windows laptop. Mileage may vary for you.

Ah, well. An update’s an update.