“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.
So let me get this straight, you buy an iphone, unlock it, and it works the way you wanted it to.
Apple releases an update that relocks the iphone.
So, if you want your iphone unlocked, don’t install the update. Simple. You wanted an unlocked version 2.0 iphone, you’ve got it. Have a nice day.
Now, if you don’t mind your iphone being locked (like you knew it would be when you bought it), and want updates from Apple when they come out, and are happy with the iphone you bought (which works just like it was supposed to when you bought it), then keep it locked.
Is it just me, or are a large number of people complaining about a problem that doesn’t exist?
And yes, if I bought a Ford car, I would expect to be able to modify anyway I see fit. I would also expect that modifications to the operation of the car (computer, fuel, engine) might void my warranty, and I certainly wouldn’t post to a Ford forum complaining that their oil filter no longer works in my car after I switched engines.
“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.”
And then when a lot of this shit hits the fan (as if it hasn’t already) people aren’t going to blame the hackers; Apple will catch all the crap. No one will remember about the ‘consent’ part.
jailbreakers and hackers are losers…give it up.
FreddyThePig,
Awe come on, buddy. Pretty please with sugar on top?
@Objective Third Party:
What idiot would want to get a piece of cake and not eat it? What else are they going to do with it? That’s the dumbest analogy ever created!
<< “jailbreakers and hackers are losers…give it up.” >>
I for one- prefer to keep my iPhone “stock”. These kids however are NOT losers by any stretch. They are talented & resourceful. They just can do what most of you can’t- and that bothers you doesn’t it?
Steve & Woz were hackers back in the day- Well- Woz was anyway. Remember the device Woz built for free long distance calls. Not to mention all the disassemblies and reverse engineering.
FreddyThePig,
Thanks Freddy.
Excuse me, but Apple DOES have the right to dictate how THEIR product is used. And when you buy an iPhone, you agree to abide by their conditions.
If YOU were to form a company and spend years developing a product, you too would want your product used in the way you designed and intended it to be used. Every single profitable company operates in this way.
Also, to the kneejerk ‘Apple is now just like Micros**t’ comments.
You people typed those comments on a computer that you bought and agreed to the SAME conditions as the iPhone is subject to.
But now Apple is now just like Micros**t??
FeddyThePig is right. This is boring.
Joe: ” Offer a wider range of web video compatibility”
I agree with the copy and paste, and the wireless iTunes. I think both of those things are coming.
But more “web video compatibility” ? No way.
Apple needs to stick to open source here. Not promote proprietary formats like Windows media, or Adobe’s Flash. Both cases are full of problems, not least of which is giving them a stamp of approval to continue to pollute the interwebs.
The iPod and iPhone hardware is built to play H.264 video efficiently, this makes battery use better, and promotes an open standard.
What’s going to happen out of this is a HUGE number of iPod touch and iPhone devices will be out there, and the number will be far too large to ignore. Anyone who is serious about web video will be forced to include an open source compatible format. This is a Very Good Thing™.
@ QED
I’m in absolute agreement with your sentiment. The rest-o-yall please remember that the only legal way to purchase an iPhone in the U.S is through Apple or AT&T;with an agreed 2 year contract. Skirting these well published requirements leaves you open to whatever measures the companies involved deem necessary to recoup any lost revenue you might have cost them. Do you really think Apple wanted to be tied to AT&T;? This was a business decision paved after many hours of thought and with an eye to the future viability of the product, AT&T;expects to make a certain amount of dough based on the provisions of this agreement, when hackers violate these agreements they hurt the entire community….. There’s no such thing as a community minded hacker… just another form of personal greed, from someone who enjoys reveling against authority.
thanx
@twighlightmoon
Nice premise, but remember open source has its place to be sure, but Apple and every other company is in it to make MONEY! Money pays the staff, the advertisers, the manufacturers, the sales staff, Big STEVE, and everyone else involved. Any company would require a certain amount of proprietorship to remain competitive and in Apple’s case a market leader … Utopian ideas only work, or make sense in a utopia.
Thanx
Update:
The 2.0.1 jailbreaks are out. So much for that.
On Jailbroken phones, are there any other browsers that crash less than Safari? The iPhone version is terrible.
As far as I’m concerned 2.0 sux anyway. It is slower and it crashes alot. I have a first gen iPhone and an iPod touch and my Iphone is jailbroken so when it started crashing I blamed it on being jailbroken etc.. but the Touch is 100% legit 2.0 directly from Apple and the damned thing crashes just as much. Most likely one of the Appstore Apps that I got but isn’t that what the whole deal is is to make sure the stuff we install won’t cause problems. My iPhone on 1.1.4 jailbroken was rock solid. Hell, I’m thinking about going back to 1.1.4 but will have to have older version of iTunes as Apple in their infinate wizdon made the latest iTunes incapable of doing it. Apple is starting to get too big for its britches and is becoming more like another big computer software company we all love to hate. They need to fix the shit befor they start worring about jailbroken iPhones.
“I certainly wouldn’t post to a Ford forum complaining that their oil filter no longer works in my car after I switched engines.”
Except here you take your Ford in for a recall to get a number of defects unrelated to your accessories fixed and find that they’ve stripped off all your accessories and sold them on ebay.
That’s not right for a car, and not right for a phone either.
In the US, it’s illegal for the car manufacturer to require that you use their expensive oil filters or other parts to maintain warranty. Why? because dealers were abusing customers to lock them in to over priced servicing requirements. Therefore by law in the US you can add any accessories you like to a car and as long as they don’t cause the specific problem you want warranty service for, the car company must honor the warranty.
It’s also the law in the US that a cellphone company must let you unlock your phone.
There’s not question of whether Apple is abusing it’s customers through it’s handling of various aspects of the iPhone platform, unlocking, upgrades, SDKs, the app store. Clearly they are.
It’s only a question of whether the iPhone will become a significant enough platform that the government takes notice of what they’re doing and steps in to protect customers, or whether Apple’s own policies will stop it’s growth long before that.
So given that Apple will eventually will be made to obey the law if they’re sucessful, why wouldn’t they start now?