“Since Monday, Apple officials have been warning iPhone owners that using unlocking software could cause the phone to become “permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.” But in many cases those warnings went unheeded,” Katie Hafner reports for The New York Times.
“People who had unlocked their phones to use them with another carrier ran the greatest risk of, in techie terms, having them ‘bricked’ — rendered about as useful as a brick. Most of those who committed the lesser transgression of installing programs not authorized by Apple simply had those programs wiped out,” Hafner reports.
“The update has [also] made the iPhone ‘almost impervious to any third-party hacks,’ said Erica Sadun, a technical writer in Denver who has created more than a dozen programs for the iPhone, including the screen-shot program and a popular voice recorder,” Hafner reports.
Hafner reports, “Jennifer Bowcock, an Apple spokeswoman, said that when people went to update their software with their computer through iTunes, a warning appeared on the computer screen, making it clear that any unauthorized modifications to the iPhone software violated the agreement that people entered into when they bought the phone. ‘The inability to use your phone after making unauthorized modifications isn’t covered under the iPhone warranty,’ Ms. Bowcock said.”
Hafner reports, “There were reports online that employees at Apple stores were reviving or replacing some dead iPhones. But Ms. Bowcock did not offer much hope to iPhone owners with problems: ‘If the damage was due to use of an unauthorized software application, voiding their warranty, they should purchase a new iPhone.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: When companies start to support unsupported hacks, we’ll be sure to let Webster’s et al. know, so they can change the definition of “unsupported.”
That said, Apple, if you plan an iPhone SDK or a “Made for iPhone” plan to distribute authorized third-party apps via iTunes Store for the iPhone, right about now would be a good time to announce it:
Do not hack.
This is not a car to customize.
I agree.
Let the whining begin in 3…2…1…
In other news….
Kleenex stock expected to rise dramatically!
Buy NOW!
LOL
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suckas!!!!!
I bet you’ll think first next time, as your standing in line with your iBrick to buy a new one. As a matter of fact, I heard if you stick a fork into the vents in your stereo, it improves the audio quality, at least that’s what i heard
The Rebel Alliance is turning into the Empire.
Hey Steve:
1. Third Party apps ARE the killer app for the iPhone. Why can’t you see this?
2. The day you came out and said Apple would not deliberately break third party apps I installed them. That implied they are OK with you – you could have said don’t do it then and there. You need to quickly differentiate those using third party apps WITH AT&T;and those that unlocked the phone. Unlockers knew they were on shaky ground but you all but said I could run my apps.
3. I, like many, will continue to run 1.02 until you either add enough functionality to the iPhone yourself or until third party apps are at least tolerated in a firmware release.
Isn’t cellphone unlocking legal? I can understand Apple not providing warranty service towards anything ‘broken’ because of the owners tinkering, but to turn the device into a brick???
Sorry Luke, but the force is not with you on this one. Apple’s iPhone warrantee is pretty straightforward. Your warrantee will be void and null if you fsck with the iPhone. So users did that, the iPhone doesn’t work, and they want Apple to pay. Who is responsible here?
What the whiners will never understand is that integration of hardware and software requires a corresponding lack of hackability. Not only this, but these techie masturbators were warned REPEATEDLY and still they whine. Guys, real hackers understand and accept the risks.
Grow up and shut up. No-one cares about how much you were injured when you can’t even read!
Uhm…if I installed crappy, unsupported shareware on my MBP that ended up bricking it (or even a Bit Torrent-d copy of a legit program), would Apple be expected to provide me a new laptop? Don’t. Think. So. You want the iPhone to work with other carriers? Go get a Pearl, and wait 3 years, jackasses. Save the drama for yo’ mamma.
If you haven’t hacked your iPhone, you’re missing out on some of the best things about the iPhone. I don’t understand why people are surprised the update can brick the iPhone considering Apple gave warning about what could happen to a hacked iPhone few days before the update was released. If you had a hacked or unlocked iphone, common sense should tell you to wait until another version of apptapp or unlocking software is released for firmware 1.1.1 before you do the software update. I haven’t updated yet since a hacked iPhone is far superior to anything 1.1.1 has to offer.
Okay, Mr. Hacker. I hacked your hack. Will you fix it?
Of course not.
I drove my car into a lake, but my modifications didn’t work, and it sank. Now the manufacturer won’t pay for the crane and even says I voided my warranty. Should I sue?
I didn’t think so.
Sunlokyee is right.
If you hack your iPhone, and you want Apple to support it, you’re knocking on the wrong door. The hacked system isn’t an Apple product, it’s now a hacker product. Get support from the source: the hacker.
The problem isn’t with the iPhone becoming a brick, it is with Apple not allowing 3rd part apps. This is from a long time (since Apple IIe) supporter. How many times have we heard that lack of software is the reason why people bought a winblows machine? The new paradigm has shifted from desktops to mobile (iPhone) computing, and Apple is poised to dominate if they would only allow 3rd party apps. Sadly, it seems they are going to shoot themselves in the foot again.
GREAT YOUTUBE!!!!!
Apple *needs* to allow and support the development community (hackers). These people LOVE the iPhone. They love it, and they will make it better.
Case study in the extremes of cool and uncool, all within a few months: Create the coolest new tech device in 20 years. Create huge buzz and long lines. Then treat your keenest, most savvy customers like dupes or little kids. Tell them that although this device runs the world’s most advanced operating system, and its capabilities might be limited only by the talent and imaginations of its millions of users, in fact it will be limited to just those uses approved by the corporate headquarters of Apple and AT&T;.
Ever since my first Mac, 22 years ago, Macs are the only computers I’ve ever purchased. When the iPhone came out, I felt that as soon as I could come up with a halfway plausible excuse for getting one, I wanted to buy one. Now I feel that if I ever find I absolutely need one, I’ll hold my nose and buy one. Sorta like Microsoft Word ….
Most computer companies encourage third party software, Nokia would kill to have as many developers putting software on their phones (see their new ad campaign). Yet here is Apple actually REMOVING that software.
It also appears that in the separate case of unlocked phones, it is not the unlocking that damaged the phones but Apple’s update software that checks for an unlock and then purposely destroys the phone. It is legal under US law to unlock a phone. You bought it, you own it. Apple does not have to support it, but there is a big difference between not supporting something and testing for, and destroying. I may not support my neighbor in painting his living room purple by picking up a brush and helping him, but that’s different from picking up a gun and shooting him.
I once helped win a lawsuit for Sega concerning a video game I wrote that another company copied. The other company claimed there was only one way of writing the software and we demonstrated that there wasn’t. If sued, by it’s customers, I think Apple would lose.
…and I am saddened by the number of jackass Mac users n this forum that can’t see that the hackers are the good guys in this situation. My hope right now is that Apple is waiting to get the iPhone where they want it before opening it up.
So much for Apple being open source friendly – turns out it was just marketing. If Apple want the iPhone to succeed beyond the initial launch hype they need to support 3rd party development.
If you hackers don’t like the iPhone AS IS, don’t buy the damned thing. Stay away from AT&T;and the Apple Stores in droves (a Berra-ism). That’ll show ’em.
As for the rest of us who understand WHAT we’re buying and WHAT the manufacturer guarantees it will do, may the iPhone’s tribe increase as rapidly as possible!
who need 3rd developer…. they suck anyway!
G Spank is right. It is Apple who is screwing the “fanbase.” It is not the new switchers that are pissed off about this, but the longtime supporters of Apple (developers). It seems Apple is trying to “alienate their base” with the price reduction(they actually handled this decent by providing the rebate after complaints) and now the iBrick. What are they thinking?
@Jimbo:
You’re right. If someone bricks their iPhone by modding it, then it’s their responsibility, not Apple’s. However, it sure appears as though Apple has gone out of its way to make sure (1) you cannot use innocuous third-party apps and (2) block access to the modem for other carriers. The only apparent reason for this is so they can protect their source of monthly revenues from AT&T;(which, I remind you, turned over lots of personal information to Bush et al. without a warrant).
There’s only one reason why Apple doesn’t want me to use T-Mobile: that monthly pay-out. I’m happy with 1.0.2 firmware and my T-Mobile service. I also enjoy having pseudo-GPS, BlackJack, Instant Messaging, Sudoku, Oxford dictionary, a thesaurus, eBooks, Tetris, Text Edit, customization, the ability to email large files (including images), and to use my iPhone’s spare space as disk storage.
Apple’s more interested in themselves than they are in us.
Apple will lose any court battle on this issue. No EULA, as presented to the end user, is fully enforceable. Apple can refuse to support the device with third party software installed, but can not “brick” the device.