Apple iPhone Warning Proves True

[Nomad559]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7017660.stm

An Apple software update is disabling iPhones that have been unlocked by owners who wanted to choose which mobile network to use.
Earlier this week Apple said a planned update would leave the device "permanently inoperable".

Thousands of iPhone owners hacked their expensive gadget in order to unlock it for use with other mobile carriers and to run a host of unsupported programs.

There are also reports of the update causing issues with unaltered iPhones.

On Monday Apple issued a statement in which it said many of the unauthorised iPhone unlocking programs caused "irreparable damage" to the device's software.

The company said this would "likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed".

[gatorboy]

1. They got iScrewed.

[originalpckelly]

2. I wonder if the iPhone can add to 65,535?

:P

[zbdent]

10. Maybe, but the M-Soft version cannot add 2+2

and get 4 ...

[NYCGirl]

3. The update is completely optional, so no one has to install it.

So if someone is going to be stupid after being warned and install the update...

[crikkett]

4. MMM-mm, I smell a linux distro for apple iPhone in the offing...

...smells like baked apple.

[thereismore]

6. Exactly! It is inevitable, Mr. Anderson. nt

[Initech]

5. And yet Microsoft is the one that got busted for monopolistic practices.

:eyes:

They must have missed a payment.

[charlie]

7. There's already a method to unbrick it

It's interesting to see Steve wade into waters where his Reality Distortion Field might not be so powerful. I wonder who'll crack first, him or his new customers.

[Kutjara]

8. All the Apple-focused discussion boards are swamped...

...by people upset by Apple's move. There are basically two groups of upset users: those who unlocked their phones to use a different carrier and those who installed third party applications on their iPhones.

The first group have clearly violated the terms of their service contract with AT&T, so they don't have a lot of room for complaint if subsequent software updates don't work with their hacked phones. It's not Apple's responsibility to ensure that their updates don't foul up unauthorized hacks, so it is within its legal rights to say "tough luck" to people whose phones have been bricked. Whether it's a smart PR move to do so is an entirely different matter.

The second group (of which I am one) has greater grounds for dissatisfaction. Prior to the latest update, there were a large number of very good third party applications for the iPhone, that dramatically enhanced it's functionality. The applications did not try to unlock the phone from AT&T or undermine Apple/AT&T's revenue model in any way, and Steve Jobs stated he was indifferent to the existence of such applications. Yet the latest update removes all third party apps from the phone and blocks the method that enables them to be reinstalled. The developers are saying it will take a long time to break through this latest set of locks on the phone, so Apple have clearly shown themselves not to be "indifferent" to third party applications, but actively hostile to them. Quite why the company would want to lock out an active and dedicated development community, when most smartphone manufacturers would sell their mothers to have one, is mystifying. It smells to me like a return to the old "not invented here" parochialism of the "old" Apple.

In any event, the whole thing is turning into a PR nightmare for Apple, even making it into the mainstream press. The company that gave us "Think Different" is showing very few signs of thinking at all.

[Cronus Protagonist]

9. Seems like this is Apple's normal operating practice

I remember when they allowed third party developers to make boards for their MACs and an eager, dedicated community of people and companies sprung up offering all kinds of cheaper, mo faster, bettah stuff. I thought it was great at the time. However, Apple got scared, shut them all down and made thousands jobless (pun intended). Same thing appears to be happening here. Apple is not what it purports to be, never has been.