Talk about the ultimate iPhone hack. Mobile Complete, a software-services company, has pulled an iPhone to pieces and lashed it to a remote-controlled server. Every input and output on the dissected iPhone is electrically hooked up to the net, providing access to would-be iPhone programmers over the web.

"It's all occurring electrically on the handset," says Faraz Syed, CEO of Mobile Complete. "They are surprisingly reliable and robust, even though they look like we've cut them open and killed them."

The service, called DeviceAnywhere, offers about a thousand disassembled cell phones of every description running 24/7 for real-time remote testing. It’s a boon to developers who must test their work cross-platform and cross-carrier, but are unwilling to spend a small fortune on handsets and contracts.

When Apple releases its iPhone software developers kit in February next year, Mobile Complete will be ready. It's already figured out how to tap into the machine's multi-touch display and accelerometer. But for now, the remote iPhones will be configured for Apple-sanctioned web-based development only. There's one iPhone already hooked to the net. Three more are coming only in the near future, and the company is planning to add more in time for Apple's February SDK.

Every input and output on the dissected iPhone is electrically hooked up to the net, providing access to would-be iPhone programmers over the web. It can even be used to call for pizza.

Screenshot: Courtesy of Mobile Complete"Apple's announcement underscores the need for innovative mobile testing and development tools, especially to create applications for the iPhone, a device that is so different than other mobile devices," Syed says.

Backed by Motorola, the DeviceAnywhere service appears to be unique. According to phone programmers, only Nokia has a similar remote-testing system for its phones, but it offers less functionality.

The DeviceAnywhere system seems to be popular with the cellular industry. All the major carriers, and device makers Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Palm are among the company's clients, partners and investors. The client roster spreads beyond the handset industry to big entertainment and game developers, including AOL, Disney, Electronic Arts and ESPN.

The racks of Mobile Complete's cell phones are presented to the programmer as an onscreen replica, but they function just as they would in the flesh – because that's exactly what's happening, albeit at a distance. And in lots of little pieces.

The service's online-collaboration tool presents a sequence of screen grabs from the test phone, useful for recording a sequence of events or creating an audit trail.

Screenshot: Courtesy of Mobile CompleteButtons may be pressed and dials turned. Flip phones may be flipped. Batteries may be removed and USB cables hooked up. It doesn't physically happen, but the phone's hardware – hooked up to The Matrix – doesn't know any better.

"We've turned the table on the machines," jokes Mobile Complete spokesman James David. "At least until they turn them on us."

"The iPhone was the most challenging handset we've added," says David. "As soon as Apple opens it up, there's going to be a rush to develop."

Racks of other cell phones are set up at well-connected co-locations in San Francisco and New York, as well as in London and other European cities. Phone access is sold in packages, by the hour. For example, one might buy access to Sprint's entire current lineup, or only those that include a Java runtime. Access to the phones starts at about $200, and runs to $17 an hour and up.

"There's no substitute for the real thing," says Java developer Carlos Enrique Ortiz, who used DeviceAnywhere on recent projects. "But that's the wrong question to ask. DeviceAnywhere will make sure your app will run across the gamut of devices and network carriers you don't have access to."

It's not just developers who like the service. Chris Arens, director of marketing at mobile-marketing firm Ad Infuse, says his company has used it for a year as a way to demo its service and show ad agencies how its work appears in the flesh.

"We have to test mobile ads on as many carriers as we possibly can," says Arens. "There's so many out there, it would be impossible to do it in an individual level."

In the early days, Ad Infuse took photos of phones displaying its ads and dumped the pictures into PowerPoint presentations. Now it can quickly perform real-world ad validation for every network and handset in North America and Western Europe.

The racks of Mobile Complete's cell phones are presented to the programmer as an on-screen replica, but they function just as they would in the flesh � because that's exactly what's happening, albeit at a distance and in lots of little pieces.

Screenshot: Courtesy of Mobile CompleteThe system also includes the ability to rent time on rare, prototype handsets before they become publicly available. All the phone's inputs and outputs can be recorded and pored over frame by frame, using online collaboration tools.

Tomas Zeman, of Czech mobile game developer Cotopia, said in a blog post that it's a great service, but "quite expensive."

"Their tool is ideal for testing," he says. "We don't need fast graphics, and their remote phones have SIM cards, so we can test even the network latency."

Mobile Complete claims about 8,000 to 9,000 individual developers. The client application is written in Java and runs on any virtual machine, allowing Linux and OS X to develop using the same software as Windows developers.

"The company is a very technology-driven company," Syed says. "We've invented a very unique approach."