We've been waiting for this since the first GSM Palm Pre phones hit the market and the day is here: A true SIM unlock solution for the Palm Pre developed by jictechnology in our forums and sold by nextgenserver is now available. They have various pricing plans, but the default will run you £ 25.00 for a single unlock code. We spoke to the developers behind the unlock and they say that there are a couple of bugs to work out with the process, but that this is a 'permanent unlock' that should persist after webOS software updates - good news for those struggling with the post 1.4 issues the Rebel SIM solution has been facing. Check out this thread for the giddiness and joy the unlock seems to have unleashed.

Those who are super-antsy to get the Pre Plus in the US on AT&T will probably still want to wait as we're hoping that the launch is coming soon (not to mention you'll get the Plus version). Developers, however, should be downright giddy - it might make more sense for many of them to test on the lower-end regular Pre anyhow. Combine a 20%-off, non-contracted developer phone from Palm (go with the Telcel version from Mexico for AT&T 3G compatibility), the latest version of WebOS Meta Doctor for bypassing the first-run activation process, and this unlock and it seems to us you have a free, clear, and proper dev phone.

You'll need a Windows XP or Vista machine to get it done and note that it's worth a scan through the unlock forum thread starting at this post to check out some of the potential install issues.