You had to know this was coming – at least if you’re any kind of history student when it comes to Apple and its propensity to construct fences, if not walls, around its garden. Granted there has been some ambiguity about whether or not it was “OK” to unlock the iPhone but I’ve felt all along this was wishful thinking rather than any real subliminal message from Apple that they really didn’t mean it when they said that AT&T had an exclusive five-year deal on the iPhone.
Apple released the following message today:
Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.
Make of it what you will. If you’ve been pushing the boundaries of the EULA with your phone, you might want to think seriously about restoring it to factory fresh condition or never upgrading your iPhone again. And, knowing Apple, you can be sure that this update or the next will have some “oh my, got to have that” enhancements to bring the wayward back into the fold.
September 25th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Those of us who unlocked our iPhones knew there were risks and I personally evaluated whether I would be happy with the iPhone in its current state with never updating it again. I decided to go for it and am using my iPhone on T-Mobile and saving myself $50/month. I did pay the $175 ETF to AT&T and feel I satisfied my obligation with them. With 4 mobile phones locked into T-Mobile for another year, unlocking my iPhone to use with T-Mobile made perfect sense.
This week’s iPhone update will have the WiFi iTunes store, but since I do not buy music through the store and there hasn’t been any talk of podcast support I really don’t care about this functionality. I doubt there will be any other major improvements since we haven’t seen any yet with the two bug fix updates. The only update I can think of right now that would have me thinking of relocking my iPhone is Exchange syncing support, but that is something we may never see with this first generation iPhone.
I’ll stick with my current firmware and all the 3rd party application hacks that make my user experience an acceptable one.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:51 am
[…] As Mark says, there will be some funky new thing in the new firmware which will mean that you’ll want to install it. unlocking your iPhone almost means a move away from iTunes and connecting it with Apple if you want to remain unlocked. [via] […]
September 30th, 2007 at 12:23 am
[…] the developer community and Web 2.0 culture for a number of years - in sharp contrast to the joint Apple+AT&T bitchslaps recently delivered to iPhone […]
July 19th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
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