The iPhone Dev Team may have held off on releasing their ultrasn0w iPhone 3GS jailbreaking and unlocking tool, but that hasn’t stopped long-time Apple hacker George Hotz.  He’s released a tool called purplera1n which, while not unlocking the iPhone 3GS, does at least jailbreak it so that unofficial third-party apps can be installed.

The tool, currently only available for Windows users, can be used to jailbreak iPhone 3GS models running OS 3.0 (users hoping to unlock or jailbreak their handsets are advised not to upgrade to 3.1) and seems a relatively straightforward process.  Still, it’s in beta and you’re advised to back up your handset before attempting it; Apple are unlikely to look kindly on any warranty repairs should they discover your iPhone 3GS was bricked during an unofficial mod.