“Apple’s 2.0.1 firmware update accomplishes what hackers had claimed Apple couldn’t do: It relocks an iPhone to AT&T. The original boast was predicated on the fact that through all of its prior updates, Apple had never updated the baseband (cellular radio) firmware. Well, 2.0.1 breaks this tradition, and it breaks unlocking,” Tom Yager bogs for InfoWorld.
“Apple’s iPhone 2.0.1 firmware also breaks iPhone open source development. My iPod Touch [sic], which never made any trouble for AT&T or Apple, and never cost any App Store vendor a dime in lost sales, won’t run Unix apps any more. I’m back to hauling a notebook around when just my iPod Touch would do,” Yager writes.
“Maybe the iPhone open source community will hack the iPhone open again. In the meantime, it’s still possible to operate an iPhone or iPod Touch with open source jailbreak by avoiding the 2.0.1 firmware update, but as it does with iTunes, Apple is adept at turning voluntary updates into a practical necessity by making related products dependent on the latest update,” Yager writes.
“There is an amicable way out of this. The best thing for all concerned would be for Apple to enable iPhone 2.0 open source development and the running of unsigned applications (such as shell or Python scripts), but only for device owners who explicitly consent to it. I’m all for protecting users from unwittingly welcoming nonpedigreed software into their iPhones. I’ll be big about it and set aside the fact that an Apple-issued pedigree doesn’t make software run any better,” Yager writes.
“An open source iPhone community benefits Apple by turning the iPhone into a platform in the Mac sense of the term, and this isn’t at odds with Apple’s App Store venture. Yes, iPhone unlockers spoiled the party for everybody. But Apple can lock out the unlockers while letting the iPhone open source party go on,” Yager writes.
Full article here.
This whole tit-for-tat exercise is why I waited for the iPhone’s official release Down Under – I just can’t be bothered with the rigmarole of unlocking and re-unlocking. I dare say most consumers are the same.
A cold day in he’ll before Apple opens the iPhone as suggested.
Apple is now officially starting to be a bit annoying
Maybe there should be some sort of amnesty program for people who have unlocked 2G phones. This would bring them back in the loop and avoid the whole re-unlocking thing.
I agree with MacDaddy, they need to stop wasting resources on this stupid exclusivity deal and use those resources to improve phone features and functionality. Offer a wider range of web video compatibility, copy and paste, wireless syncing with itunes, the list goes on……
Applesoft Strikes Back
Lets rewrite this headline the way it would read if Microsoft did something similar:
“Microsoft Exercises Draconian Measures to Keep users Locked into Monopolistic Deal with Slipshosd Service Vemdor AT&T;!”
“Proving once again they have little or no concern for the needs of users, Microsoft released a Trojan horse in an update that was supposed to fix the VISTA like problems users have been experiencing with the new 2.0 version of their mobile phone software. Instead, unsuspecting users were shown who really owns the phones they purchased and not only were few if any bugs addressed, but the sneaky underhanded patch apparent introduces many new problems according to users.”
@MacDaddy
Amen.
yup…mobilemess still not working for me, iphone 2.0 sucks, even iphone 2.0.1 not as good as the speed in 1.1.4.
Open application means Wait Wait Wait……
I had enough…guys, Blackberry Bold and Gmail, Google Calendar will be my next step. BTW, have you ever heard about jailbreaking a Blackberry? why so troublesome?
“There is an amicable way out of this”
Open source content on the iPhone OR iPod Touch is out of the supported context the device was intended for by its creator. If you wanted updated OS and support from Apple, then live by their rules.
you cant have it both ways. All you open source nuts, stop whining!
I too, would to see a way to install non-app store apps, without jailbreaking.
I would really like to install Mobile Scrobler, as well as game system emulators, and neither of those has a chance at this point.
Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it to.
Dont buy an iPhone or touch if you’re gonna complain about it. No one is forcing you to play the game. You people sound like whining children who cant have their desert before dinner.
No Mr. Yager, the best thing for all concerned would be for you to stop trying to hack the iPhone. Apple has every right to dictate how their phone is used and all you’re doing is costing them time and resources keeping the creeps out of THEIR phone.
The ‘open source iPhone community’ is not benefiting Apple in any way. If a hack is written to let the iPhone work on any network, Apple loses revenue and AT&T;(Apple’s partner) loses out too. AT&T;then says, “What the heck? We’re losing money with these hackers posting software that allows anyone to go to another network. We’re going to have to raise the price back to $399 to compensate”.
In a small minded way, you think being ‘open’ makes it all good for everyone, but in reality it does not.
If you were in business you’d understand this, and you would protect the right to make money with your own products too.
Only hackers think hackers help Apple.
Objective Third Party.
It is difficult to argue with your logic. You are right. We buy this phone knowing it’s the most locked up device on the market and then turn around like idiots and complain about it.
Still, there is just something wrong with seeing Apple behave this way. This is the company that should be showing that rest of the world how to do things the right way, not how to screw people and still be successful.
It’s as if they’re saying, “We’ve shown Microsoft we can build vastly better technology, let’s show them how to build a Monopoly the right way.”
Apple has every right to do what they are doing.
It’s just disappointing. It’s embarrassing. This is not the Apple I’ve loved for 20 years.
I was hoping to install the iMindController.app on my iPhone that allowed me to broadcast my wills and wants, enslaving millions over Wi-fi. And sure enough Steve Jobs, cause no one else at Apple can think, goes a head and pulls the type of stunt Apple has been perfecting for the last 20+ years , maintaining their directives by endorsing their closed end-user experience paradigm, the likes of which being the main reason most of us use Apple products in the first place.
DAMN YOU for making me so not 3l33t!
QED, you are, of course, right.
“Only hackers think hackers help Apple”
Everybody is wrong here. The iPhone model is killing the iPod Touch potential to establish a new platform.
Apple is screwing the pooch here–if they want people to lug around $1000 plus laptops instead of tiny $250 palmtops then sure—
—oh…oh—wait a minute! They do! Apple has no interest in the new, cheap mobile OSX platform everybody (including me) got so excited about.
They just want to sell all kinds of hardware for multiple purposes to as many people as possible instead of relinquishing those profits for a greatly expanded user base and who knows what kind of software licensing revenues.
Cest la vie….
@thephoniestmacuser
So many posts, so little thought.
“Apple has every right to dictate how their phone is used and all you’re doing is costing them time and resources keeping the creeps out of THEIR phone.”
How do you come up with this? Would you agree to this statement if you swapped out Apple for Ford phone for car?
Last time I checked, customers *purchased* an iPhone. Which means it’s theirs. To do with as they please.
Once you buy a product, it is yours to use in any way you see fit (legally, of course).
Now Apple can of course not support a product that is used in ways they disagree with to a certain extent, but they have no *right* to dictate how their products are used.
@MacDaddy: As an Apple fan ever since I 100% agree with you. All that iPhone locking sucks.
Ugh, this really should not be a surprise. You break open a product with unauthorized software and then you wonder why it doesn’t work with the next update?
Somehow I doubt Apple is losing any sleep over jailbroken iPhones/touches. They get their money either way, and more and more people are learning how to program for Mac—authorized or not.
I would actually be surprised if Apple purposely ‘broke’ the hack. They have enough other problems with iPhone/MobileMe to fix right now that are way more important.
Apple to all iPhone hackers:
“All Your iPhone Are Belong To Us.”
Dannis
I hope RIM isn’t paying you to write that drivel: they’re not getting their monies worth!
This debate is too ridiculous. Yes, you “own” your iPhone and can do whatever you want with it just as you own a car or a toaster or whatever. But if you HACK your iPhone, or modify your car or toy with the wiring of your toaster then you void your warranty and cannot expect support from the manufacturer.
The hackers want to hack their phones AND have Apple support their phones. In fact they demand it as their God Given Right! It’s a choice. Break your warranty, and enjoy the unauthorized but unsupported power of the iPhone. Or do what 99.9% of people do and accept both the perks and the warranties of a pristine iPhone.
“I have to lug around a laptop…”
Somebody call the Waaaaaambulance.
So I guess Apple should just stop improving their products, or even better yet, ask every iPhone hacker’s permission to do something in case it breaks their previous hacks.