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Upcoming Firmware Will Brick Unlocked iPhones
iCry writes "It was rumored last week, and Apple has now confirmed it: 'Apple said today that a firmware update to the iPhone due to be released later this week "will likely result" in SIM-unlocked iPhones turning into very expensive bricks... So what are users of SIM-unlocked iPhones to do? Not run the latest software update, that's for sure. Users can instead pray to the hacking deities — the famed iPhone Dev Team that released the free software unlock, and iPhoneSIMfree, which released a commercial software unlock — to write applications that will undo the unlocks, as it were, if those users want to run the latest iPhone software.'"
Is that even legal?
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
At least it's a stylish brick!
Are you telling me it's impossible to reinstall/reset the software on an iPhone?
Anyway what are they to do: sell their iPhones and buy iPod Touch, this is what they wanted right?
What did you expect Apple to do, sit back and watch their monthly payback from AT&T go away? And AT&T not get their expected revenue?
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to think "profiling is worse than the slaughter of innocent people..."
My. Thats a brave move. First they chopped $200 off, and then threaten to turn them into paperweights if you dare to use them away from their selected few. They *really* know how to treat their early adopters well.
Quick buy shares in O2 and AT&T! Quiiick!
Don't people have statutory rights with regards to purchased goods in the US? I'm pretty sure if they tried such a trick in the UK they'll get a kicking in court.
in SIM-unlocked iPhones turning into very expensive bricks... So what are users of SIM-unlocked iPhones to do?
Bricks have uses too. You can build houses from them. Very expensive houses. But bricks are bricks after all.
... This is most likely to be just lowly scare mongering. Apple is becoming evil awfully quick.
I wouldn't be surprised if the iPhone Dev Team released a work-around rather than a roll-back. I.e. Have your unlocked iPhone cake and eat it (upgraded s/w) too. How? That's up to the clever people...
Obfuscation is easy
It seems to imply that running any 3rd party software on the phone voids your warranty.
I wonder how long Apple will be able to play hardball before they are in court on the wrong end of a class action suit?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
There are instructions on how to relock an iPhone here
It seems a bit involved
To brick or not to brick...
Thats what you get for giving Mac any of your hard earned money,a suckerpunch.Remember although you bought it ,it belongs to Steeev Jobs.
If he says no,you better listen.After all he is richer,smarter and better than you.Think Different.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
This could create an interesting legal situation in countries where modding the equipment is a protected consumer right. On the other hand, if you hack the iPhone you pretty much void the warranty and can't expect the official updates to work. But with "FUDdish" threats like this Apple makes it sound like their intentionally breaking the phones. And I wonder how Apple plans to prevent returning the bricked phones for warranty. If they can detect that afterwards, they probably could have detected it as part of the bricking update.
you most likely break your warranty, so yeah, the update turning the phone into a brick is probably legal, and you were warned about it at various stages of the purchase, unpacking and using the crack. whether that is good PR ... well, that remains to be seen. real apple fanbois won't be cracking their phones, and apple won't probably care about the semi-fanbois that do crack them.
also, I am sure most of the people who bought an iphone realize there is this exclusive contract with the relevant carrier, and that both apple and the carrier will do their best not to let people off the hook via some free hack. so, if you bought an iphone to crack ... you knew what it means ;)
That sucks for the people that bought iphones specifically because they could be unlocked and used with anyone. On the other hand, it's been known for a while that the iPhone was going to be tied to a specific carrier.
I have a feeling that regardless of how many times someone comes up with a hack to unlock the iphone, there will always be something new to come along and give the tie in with att some sort of bright side. Kind of like how you only get the visual voicemail with att and not another carrier. I would expect to see new features rolled out as time goes on, giving additions to the iphone only to att customers, at least during the duration of their contract together.
Regardless of anything though, right or wrong, it's been widely known that the phones would be locked into att and if you purchased it to unlock it for another network you have nothing to complain about when the next update kills it.
If something you do that intentionally destroys private property, that is absolutely something that can be brought to court.
I think it is time to stop thinking of Apple as anything less than an even more evil version of Microsoft with slightly less money.
...we have the unedifying spectacle of Apple fanboys scrambling to justify the exact same types of behaviour they constantly condemn Microsoft for:
- defective by design hardware featuring crippleware to degrade functionality in the event of uses which differ from the uses the parent company approves
- intentional attempt to force customers to buy uncompetitive/unattractive services in addition to the thing they want
- vague and misleading corporate spin which dodges the real issue
Apple have done some good stuff lately, particularly playing hardball over music licensing on iTunes. But this is not good, and you should have the guts to say so, just as you would if it was Microsoft or some other similar company.
Read Pynchon.
Perhaps they borrowed a bit of jargon from microsoft along the lines of "You don't own what you just paid 300 bucks for, you just licensed it, its ours to with however we please, you just get to use it in the meantime. Share and Enjoy."
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
if you want a Linux based, good looking, feature full and open phone then have a look at Open Moko it is probably going to be capable of multitouch (the touchscreen hardware can do it but the software does not take advantage yet) it will come without a contract so I will be getting an O2 sim only contract when they come out next month. OpenMoko in October, OLPC in November, wow, I am going to be skint by Christmas.
Anyone who altered their software can just do a wipe/restore. That will reinstall all the software. Stop freaking out... no worries.
I'm an Apple fanboy - I've used Macs since 1984, worked for Apple for a couple of years, and have promoted Apple equipment and software where I've been employed. But at this moment, I'm disgusted. There is no need to disable the unlocked iPhone's, and Jobs and crew should damn well accept that some of us actually refuse to use AT&T on principal. Think Different my a**.
I'm not going to subscribe to AT&T. AT&T, the firm that's trying to eliminate net neutrality. AT&T, the reconstituted (near) monopoly. AT&T the firm that opened their switch boxes to the NSA without hesitation and is now attempting to manipulate legislation to provide immunity from prosecution in that matter.
On a practical note, Does Mr. Jobs even recognize how expensive his bed partner is overseas? And this matter practically to myself and my family. Apple, as normal, has forgotten that Israel exists. Apple has, as far as I know, has never sold its products directly in Israel. If I want to send an iPhone to my family in Israel, should I have to sign up for AT&T and pay for their pathetic World Traveler plan? The world does exist outside the US and a few European markets.
Incidentally - my evil unlocked iPhone works perfectly on T-Mobile - without Visual Voice Mail, but gods, I'll live. So what, precisely, is the point of altering the modem firmware, except to break unlocking? Point out examples of the baseband firmware wreaking havoc on the network; explain how this change benefits users.
The iPhone is the first tablet computer I've seen that inspires the imagination. I want to write programs for it, I want to explore a new user interface. If it runs OS X, treat it like an OS X box and let us get on with writing the programs that will sell the bloody thing. Don't freeze us out while you write such amazing accomplishments as the "Wireless i-Tunes Store" while we're trying to write vertical apps for the medical profession, law, and other fields.
Job's, former AT&T hacker, has decided to repeat the folly of the early closed Mac, the early closed NeXT, and even at times the Newton. Apple made a terrible choice in its partner, and seems incapable of realizing the potential of the iPhone.
/* Dang, I can't type that well. */
Good grief, why would anyone get into this DRM shit. The minute you start letting remote vendors change things according to THEIR interpretation of an agreement, you're automatically saying that you have no valid view of the agreement, only their's is valid!
In this case people bought it, assumed it was theirs despite Apple saying it must be plugged into ATnT, simply because of local laws covering the sale of goods. Yet if they let Apple directly apply the terms by changing the phone remotely, they've automatically given up any local rights they may think they have.
Apple overreaches with a very expensive experiment, and proceeds to knock itself out of a (or even THE) market. It's Newton-time all over again; the karma of Steve-o.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
While the jury's out on whether the bricking is intentional or not, it's clear that something in the update process is incompatible with the changes made by unlocking.
The solution is to reverse the changes before updating. There is a preliminary guide to doing this at:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/24/how-to-relock-your-iphone-before-the-firmware-update/
Of course, this means that your phone is no longer unlocked.
The other option is to just not upgrade.
Still just waking up, I read the headline as something about "Upcoming Firmware Wii Brick". That wouldn't have been very good news four days after soldering that WiiKey on.
Anyone who owns an iPod will know the firmware gets updated fairly regularly will fixes and on occasion new features too. To hack your own firmware onto an Apple device is tight-rope-walking at best.
For goodness sake people, you don't buy Apple products because they're cheap or because you want to save money; nay fellow brethren, you buy because Apple products are the coolest, the best user-tested, and yea, because you are blessed enough to afford luxury. It comes at a price.
Amen.
throw new NoSignatureException();
If you own something, its yours. You paid for it, you paid taxes on your purchase, you completed the transaction.
If a company intentionally destroys your property and thus denies you the rightful use of your property, how is that *ANY* different than a DDOS?
If Apple does this, it should be sued into the ground. I'm not talking just statutory damages, I'm talking "punitive" damages intended to reduce the likelihood they do this crap again. If every iPhone use who gets bricked sues for $1m, it could be interesting.
I am sick of U.S. companies treating customers like shit. Damn it! Make a good product, sell a million of them, and support your customers. What the hell is so difficult about that formula? It is the basis of real capitalism, not this fascist lock you in and bend you over crap companies are doing today.
Apparently the phone won't be disabled immediately. It will first make a call to the nearest AT&T NSA approved logging center, where the phone number will be recorded and your address details passed on to Apple.
Then the phone will disable itself.
Shortly after, you will meet with a mysterious accident.
Apple users that we interviewed were of the opinion that while this was a good first step, it didn't really go quite far enough. "Ideally I'd like to see the offender's family murdered in the streets as well. It's really the only way to teach the proper respect for Apple's products and business strategy.", said one person who was soon copied by all the others in an attempt to show their individuality.
An Apple spokesman who we contacted offered the following statement, "LOL, Windows, LOL!".
"Hey Steve, I believed from way way back
'Cause I felt that you were on the right track
Well, I laughed and I cried when I heard you speak
And I put down ten big bills that week
Hey Steve! (Hey Steve!)
I believed! (I believed!)
And I did what it took to buy into the dream!
Now, I'm hearing some stuff about optical drives
And I'm starting to feel some real bad vibes
'Cause I put down twenty-five hundred bucks
And I'm starting to feel like I'm sure f***ed
Hey Steve! (Hey Steve!)
Oh Please! (Oh Please!)
Hey Stephen, don't you be thievin' my optical drive!"
From "Vision in Black" by Nathan J. & the NeXTsteps
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Or do you mean because it renders unlocked phones useless?
Even bricked iPhones have a use... You can always blend it.
Now all we need is a trojan or worm which will unlock any iphone connected to the system.
Apple couldn't possibly deny replacing bricked phones when they have thousands of innocent people screaming at them.
Hurray for plausible deniability!
right. so why do so many people try to hack the device desperately ? if the vendor does not want your money, your contributions - go to another.
:) )
like, already mentioned fic neo with openmoko/qtopia.
instead, painful attempts to hack or use the device that the manufacturer has quite clearly noted it does not want to be hacked (or even used, in some cases
Rich
This is just another arms race in the making. We've seen this with the Cable Boxes, then Satelite TV, DVD, XBOX's
:)
The more complex the systems get, the more opportunities to circumvent.
After all, the Death Star was brought down by a snot-nosed-wombat-shooting-hick from the backwaters of the galaxy
All it takes is motivation and a lot of free time....
Old age and treachery almost always overcome youth and skill.
More likely they fix it. Tell you that you voided your warrenty, and then bill you for the repair.
This 'cat and mouse game' is a result of a legal loophole in the DMCA, one that prevents consumers from being locked-in to a single phone service. We need more leaders to step forward, and foil these hackers from cracking our iPhones.
1) Threaten to void warranties
2) Force frequent updates and patches
3) Send DMCA notices to stop sharing of unlocking software
4) Moderate down anyone slandering our Great Leader
5) Moderate down any Grammar-Nazi that tells us it's libel, not slander
6) Profit!!!
While it sucks for users who have unlocked their phones, I am forced to wonder if Apple is backed into a corner because of their contract with AT&T. Are they required, by the terms of their contract, to react in just this way or face stiff penalties? I suspect they are. My prediction is that the next update will screw unlocked phones but the various teams out there will find a way to break the fix in short order, allowing users of unlocked phones to again get back to enjoying their phone, with the latest update installed. And I suspect that's exactly what Apple wants and expects though they are forced to act otherwise because of the terms of their deal with AT&T. Yeah, I might just be touting the Apple fanboy party line, but I suspect the pressure to fix things is not coming from Apple in this case.
keep on praising good old steve there as he locks you in both on the hardware and software end of things.
apple as an alternative to microsoft? are you kidding?
but they are coming and we still don't hear the howls we'd hear from the slashdot lemmings if this were done by bill gates.
so thanks to the fanbois for proving me right yet again. you guys suck, but you still got my back. how sweet it is.
A bricked iPhone can be returned for a full switch...
I have a small scratch on my iPhone driving me insane, which is not enough to warrent an exchange.
I will have to explain to my family that they should *not* update the firmware if they want to keep using t-moble, at least until someone else figures out how to unlock the phone. Or I will simply install my backup copy of the current firmware, no harm done and all.
I mean, being able to play a few games while in airplane mode, having free personal ringtones ripped from our own media, using t-mobile, an ebay tracker, an application that uses cellphone triangulation to calculate your location on the map, an AIM client, a digital recorder for lectures and meetings, a quickbooks app, an ebook reader, and a NES emulator; are all worth more to us then having an itunes store on the phone that lets us know what songs are playing in our local starbucks... I mean with the tmobile 'total internet' package (for $19.95 a month), I can use the tmobile hotspot in my local starbucks, for speeds faster then EDGE.... A greater convinence in my mind.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
Oh for God's sake... can't you give the Israel bashing a rest?
The original poster tossed into the middle of a rant how 'Israel is not being taken care of'.
The reply points out how Israel seems to be taken care of. Taken care of far better than any one corporation can.
So if the 1st poster had not tossed in his 'Oh poor Israel', there would be no un-attibuted reply showing how Israel seems to be doing just fine WRT support.
Now, if the quote from Rice is fake, yea its bashing. If the quote is true, what bee is in your undies to make you think posting is 'bashing'?
you may want to consider that my point remains valid: if Apple bricks the iPhone to prevent unlocking than people in many countries will never have the chance to use it - which is simple stupidity.
How about this: You spend some time in a "hip-to-be-liberal" school and learn to write concise text that leads the reader to your question rather than putting "all-purpose-activist crap" into your text which leads to people talking about things other than your 'point'?
This quote from Airplane! seems appropriate:
"Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash."
Honestly, they are not using the iPhone as intended and they full well knew it. To make Apple take into account third-party hackery is just silly. I'm not saying I like the idea of a locked-down iPhone in the first place, but that is not the argument here.
--- witty signature
The PSP went (and still is going) through many of the same throes as the iPhone. I used to do some homebrew in the PSP scene as it was a great device, capable of so much, but the back and forth near war between Sony and homebrew developers, the annoyances of having to code around specific versions of the firmware, every little annoyance, it eventually just broke my will.
When Apple said they didn't mind the unlocked versions, I thought great, at least they're not going to purposely break compatibility like Sony did - there would at least have been hope for homebrew to develop then.
Not anymore...
I'm sorry, standard users can't deal with multiple firmware versions, multiple unlocks, and even the experienced users grow tired of it rapidly. Whilst the iPhone has more penetration and arguably more dedicated users than the PSP, this fact still does not change. If Apple want to, they will break the iPhone's compatibility, and it will eventually stay broken. The one advantage in the PSP community is you don't explicity need the latest firmwares for a fully functional PSP, but with the iPhone I fear that some of the firmware upgrades may become necessary to retain a fully operational phone. The PSP homebrew community did some amazing exploits to get homebrew access (the TIFF buffer overrun exploit for example), and for that I respect them all, but it will eventually all fall apart regardless.
We can all hope Apple come to their senses, but I fear it's unlikely...
Yes madam, this real estate includes house, garage and swimming pool. Yes, all made up of original premium quality Cupertino Bricks. Just don't let your geeky nephew play with them or the entire property could start ringing.
What Apple is thinking of?
/. needs to create a borg Jobs gif for Apple news stories.
Is it just me or are they behaving more and more like Microsoft?
I remember the Apple adds "Think Different", which made me buy my mac and dump the pc.
But now, with all of their recent actions (iTunes, iPhone, Leopard), it seems to me that they somehow replaced Jobs with a Gates animatronic.
Guns are for wimps... Use a crossbow.. this way you can pin them to their chair when you go postal.
If you hacked the SIM then you'd be on a different network right? How are they going to push an update to you on another network?
I have always been a "fringe" supporter of mac. Ie the early years when they created a computer in a workshop on a breadboard, and hacked their own os. It was all about power to the people. No one gave a flying toss about "IP" or the licence under which the code was released. It was just cool. They WANTED to empower people, and have fun along the way. Compare this to what Jobs and co do now. They are motivated by greed, money, and secret contracts. They are becoming more "mainstream" every day in the way in which they really really dont give a toss about the old hacker ethic under which they were founded. Shesh and I was gonna buy a Macbook!
http://www.writeitfor.us - Writing IT for the IT generation.
Sucks doesn't it? Looks like they're just figuring out that windows users might not be the true bane to Apple's existence -- those *nix users are f'ing crazy! Changing settings? Adding features? Undocumented functionality? Those ungrateful mother****ers....
Apple: Hey, look -- we made a phone!
Mac fan: Thank you Steve Jobs! I love you!
*nix fan: I can has unlock! w00t!! all your competitive advantage are belong to us!
Apple: Not so fast there *nix fan....
For fear of sounding like an Apple FanBoy, aren't Apple really safety netting here? They are saying that the update is likely to render unlocked iPhones useless, but are they guaranteeing it? It might be a moot point, but if Apple are providing updates to the iPhone, fixing bugs and adding features, then it might be the case that the state of an unlocked phone will be affected. To be honest, if I owned an iPhone and I had unlocked it, I wouldn't expect Apple to support me. Responsibility comes with freedom. I am free to choose to unlock my iPhone, but then I am responsible for it.
OK, I sound like and Apple FanBoy...
Any fool can talk, but it takes a wise man to listen.
I can totally understand Apple's desire to punish those who attempt to work around artificially imposed limitations in their communications hardware. After all, it's not like the company even owes its existence to a couple of guys who made and sold toll fraud devices for a living... oh, wait.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
As an example, the iPhone could be unlocked abroad (where there is no AT&T) so that the owner can reach their insurer for payment for an essential operation.
I agree that this isn't a matter of who the other party is, but there are all sorts of times when one has cause to distrust someone, and it is reasonable to treat them differently from someone who you do trust. Do you go out of your way to help someone who has cried "wolf" too many times, when there are others who haven't?
The DMCA was recently deliberately ammended to allow phones to be cracked for the purpose of running on other networks; Apple is already running against the spirit of the law, and possibly also the letter. Cracking the phone is moral, for Apple know the laws that apply, and their intent, when they are selling the iPhone; they have no excuse to complain.
Those who have cracked their phones, or had them cracked, did so in the rational expectation that doing so would be legal, and indeed allowed. Apple's behaviour is shady, even if it is not illegal.
Wikileaks, no DNS
is that they won't check future software updates to the iPhone to work with each and every unlocking hack somebody came up with.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
The subject is the iPhone - the point I'm making should be damn clear: there are many, many countries which Apple will not arrange partnership agreements with cell distributors, and that means that to use the iPhone we have to unlock it. Hard to comprehend? It's not "oh, poor Israel", it's "oh, poor rest of the world!"
On the subject of US government policy and Israel: How does that relate to the iPhone, how does that relate to Apple? It is an unattributed quote, a very common feature of the Israel bashing we see on Digg, DailyKos, and Reddit on a daily basis. Do you have the slightest idea how the Israeli currency system works (hint: it's a basket currency, look it up). The quote makes no sense, and I actually studied monetary economics for years - have you?
/* Dang, I can't type that well. */
"Is that even legal?"
don't you mean: "apple's iBrick is vastly superior to regular beige bricks. they are premium building materials built by artists for artists by an exceptional company that innovates in every single way. i mean who would have thought about selling people phones that you could then use to build things with? apple. think different."
You can make a case from Apple's standpoint why they want to discourage you from changing it, but you certainly can couch this as a morality play.
I think Apple is being a jerk on this one, but I realize some people view Apple differently.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Factually you are right, but what's more important in the long run, what the manufacturer can get away with in the small print, or getting what (at least part of) the market clearly wants? Too many companies seem to have forgotten just who it is that pays for their products these days...
I think it was good of Apple to let people know this is coming. Firstly it protects their customers from losing functionality and secondly it lets the hackers know the update is coming so they can take account of it and design a workaround asap so people with unlocked phones can do the firmware update safely. It's not as if people are being forced to do the update NOW NOW NOW ... they can simply wait a bit (like a week tops) for the hack to be updated.
---- You are fully entitled to my opinion.
"Poor Apple - people are buying things from them and then using them in ways that Apple hadn't intended! That's so totally unfair to Apple I can't believe it!"
It more than that and you know it.
"I mean god forbid that someone would buy something and then not expect the vendor to have complete and utter control over it! What is this world coming to?!?!"
Then they shouldn't have a problem with them being bricked? You want to "do whatever you want" then whatever you want involves consequences. In this case some want to enjoy Apples hard work on firmware, but don't want to play by the rules. Fine, enjoy your bricked phone. Or start supporting yourself independent of Apple. I'm certain this audience has no problem writing their own firmware and supporting the "Stickin it to the man" crowd.
I thought it was illegal to lock phones to one provider in the UK(EU?)? Apple should be forced to remove the locks, I don't care if they made a deal or not, they shouldn't be allowed to do anything that anyone else isn't
I am right about the law, aren't I.
If this were really happening, what would you think?
-Users can instead pray to the hacking deities
+Users can instead pay to the hacking deities
There you go! That should do it.
When the iPhone came out I was about to make a t-shirt showing a photo of my cheap Nokia and the caption "iSaved $599", but I stopped after looking at my belly in the mirror. Now looks like it's time to seriously lose some weight!
Ok, I'm about as left wing as they come. I aspire to join the weathermen. And I really don't see anything wrong with this. First off, apple hasn't pressed charges, or even tried to force the issue about the DMCA exceptions to unlocking their phone. You make the choice to unlock it, and if you do, you're taking the risk. I mean, if I put a modified firmware on my bios/cdrom/harddrive and it bricks, I can't bitch about it, its my fault. There's a thing called personal responsibility, and you assume it when you modify any hardware you have. At least apple has the decency to look out for its customers who have unlocked their phones, as opposed to just releasing the update. They're not being draconian, they simply can't assure their customers that the update won't brick their phones because they can't account for every hack out there. Its a CYA thing. None of this bothers me that much, I went through similar songs and dances with my PSP, though not quite so bad. Besides, the homebrew and hardware hacking minds out there will have a modified updater, or updated unlocker within a week or two after the release anyways. So chicken littles of the iphone world, fear not.
They didn't brick XBox 360's that were modded, but, they did ban 'em from XBox Live. While not the same as bricking it, it definitely rendered it less valuable to people who were playing online games or enjoyed downloading games, videos, etc. from XBox Live.
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
I find the iPhone's combination of functionality (most of it, anyway) rather attractive, especially if it really does work better than trash like my Ipaq (losing ALL the user data whenever the battery goes flat is just unacceptable, and has me back to using a -nonvolatile! - paper address book). Based on the last review from The Register (which was rather favorable on the whole), I was even toying with the idea of buying one, based on the assumption that I could use it with MY cell provider. Apple DOES do a good job of user-interface design, and their handheld products are very sleek, attractive, and well built, which goes some way toward justifying their premium prices. However, now that it's clear that Apple intends to actively force iPhone buyers to use Apple's selected monopoly service provider and brick the phones of those who escape the monopoly, they can wave a fond good-bye to the idea that I'll buy their gear, and that extends to iPods as well.
Face it, there really isn't any reasonable interpretation of Apple's latest statements other than that they DO intend to deliberately sabotage your iPhone if you unlock it; all that horse puckey about "many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software" is just that; horse puckey. No one expects Apple to put in extra effort to accommodate third-party software on the iPhone (that would be like Microsoft providing good API docs for Windows,) but it's clear that they're not just disclaiming responsibility for third-party software here; Jobs has actively declared war on those who use the gadget outside Apple's ring-fenced provider. (I wonder when the battle front will be expanded to include iTunes?) I for one am not willing to tolerate this kind of behavior, so Apple has just lost another potential customer.
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
Yall are talking as though apple will definitely brick hacked phones. I don't see that there. Plus I don't see how that serves apple OR AT&T. Anybody motivated enough (and bright enough) to unlock their iphone to use with another carrier is certainly not going to be wooed over to the AT&T side by an act of electronic aggression - much the opposite.
:P
I see this as a recognition by Apple that thousands of people have unlocked iphones with unknown software and Apple simply can't guarantee that something disastrous won't happen to some of those phones with upcoming firmware updates. Since so many people have done this, certainly a vocal few will blog up a stink about it, and this is a little preemptive reminder.
Now hurry up with that update Apple, I really want to download the Starbucks song of the day
Well Phil Schiller decides to generate a little FUD of his own after the near PR disaster that was the over priced launch. If Apple manages to accidentally or intentionally 'brick' iPhones that have been locked, and then refuse service, they will end up with an open revolt on their hands. They can kiss their halo effect goodbye if that happens. I think Apple has set itself up for a serious stumble with their vendor lock-in move, and any subsequent FUD they are trying to spin about users voiding their warranty via software. Are they going to test in-store for modified firmware? Nope, I am pretty sure this is posturing, trying to scare users back to the loving arms of Apple and AT&T, and when the firmware relocks the phone without incident, people will say 'Thank you Apple.' I for one am not relocking my phone. I have the $700 phone bill for 32MB to data they can shove up their ass first.
He is not entitled to own one, but ONCE he owns one, he is entitled to keep it in the state it is, or even burn it on a bonfire if he wishes. OTOH Apple cannot force an update on the iPhone on him, because Apple did not license the iPhone or Contract the iPhone usage to him, Apple sold it.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
As the official spokesperson of the Mac zealot contingent, I'm sure RoughlyDrafted will feature a ten page article describing why exactly this is not evil, and how Microsoft did similar things back in 1992. It will be peppered with pie graphs, misleading statistics, and Photoshop abominations.
The rest of us, residing in that place known as reality, eagerly await the grasping at straws.
It seems to me that it's better to go for a Qtopia based device instead.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Thus the iPhone, hacks for it, and updates for it are all broken. Who cares what happens, you shouldn't have supported it and now you'll do things their way or have to deal with this kind of crap.
I don't understand all the uproar. All you geeks think you should be able to buy something, jab a screwdriver into it and then expect the manufacturer to support it.
If you buy a car from GM, install an after-market modification (some kind of performance chip, etc.), it is quite possible that they may issue a recall that would either a) be denied b/c of your after-market modification, b) cause your modification to stop working or c) cause your car to stop working. Do you think it's GM's responsibility to test each an every modification that someone might make to a car before releasing a recall? Do you think it's Apple's responsibility to test each and every possible software hack out there before releasing an update?
They are selling their phone as a closed-box device, like a toaster or a DVD player. If you want to screw with it, fine, but don't expect any help from Apple getting it to work again. Quit complaining.
Never happened, idiot--the article (www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/3689 look at the labels) was a satire about how weak the dollar has become compared to the Euro (with some antisemitism thrown in). It doesn't even make sense--most (75%) Israeli aid is used to buy American weaponry, WHICH ARE BOUGHT WITH DOLLARS.
(a) you don't *have* to apply udpates. the only way they've "forced" updates in the past is to use new features. eg: you bought a song from the iTMS after the udpate came out, you need the update to play it (b) its not a proactive "we're going to brick these phones" maneuver, its a "hey, the update might not play nice with your modded phone" warning (c) its like you modding your honda, and them releasing an update for the ECM that will perform better, but might not work if you patched your ECM and (d) to the "ZOMG WUT DO U MEAN INSTALLING SOFTWAREZ VOIDED MAI WARRANTEE??!?!?!??" folks, well, read the warranty. it did.
e to the pi i plus one equals zero
It's definitely than legal. You don't have to apply the apple update your phone. THAT's your contract with apple -- if you want apple to continue to support your phone, you have to play by their rules. This is EXACTLY what defective by design is all about, and I honestly don't understand the bitching about it. Apple was very clear from day one that they could do this, and they were making a device that was designed to make them money. I completely don't approve of it, and I did not buy an Iphone for exactly these reasons. But Apple was completely upfront about it. They made it very clear in their press releases, etc, that they would lock the device down, force users to buy ring tones through ITMS, not allow 3rd party development, and would seek to monetize EVERY aspect of the Iphone they could.
If you want to hack up the device to use it the way you want, fine and dandy, but if you want apple to keep upgrading it after you've hacked it, that's unrealistic, and as much as I really dislike the controls Apple has placed on what would be a great device if you could do what you want with it, I don't think it's fair to complain about them doing EXACTLY what they said they would do before the device came out. Apple is releasing updates under the premise that they know the condition of everything important on the brick -- er phone. If things have changed, unbeknownst to them, they are not responsible for what happens when you do updates.
As for it being legal for you to unlock your phone -- it COMPLETELY is -- that right is guaranteed to you by the DMCA. But once you do that, you are taking a risk still running apple updates. And as much as I dislike what apple has done with the Iphone, I don't think you can say what they are doing here is unfair. They told us all a long time ago that the device was going to be as locked down as possible. People who bought it, knew that. Or at least the people who bought it and applied the hacks.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
The DMCA has an explicit exemption for circumventing cellphone locks for purpose of using the cellphone on another network. Hacking your iPhone is legal if you just want to put in an unlocked SIM. Now you may be violating the contract you have with Apple, but given the DMCA exemption a court may deem those clauses unconscientiable and therefore null and void. So ultimately does Apple have the legal right to take your money and then deprive you of use of your own property?
Q: How many cops does it take to push a suspect down a stairwell?
A: None, he just slipped!
So the Apple version is:
Q: How many firmware updates does it take to sabotage an unlocked iPhone?
A: None, it just bricked!
Which just goes to show:
Q: What do you get when you cross Apple and AT&T?
A: AT&T!
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Except if you read the TUAW guide to re-locking that some people who tried to re-lock the phone found that it didn't work anymore. Some have gotten it to work again by re-unlocking, but eitherway the process seems to munge the IMEI.
Maybe, just maybe, and I know many people will have to take of the tinfoil hats to believe this, Apple actually has test units that they try out all these published hacks on. And maybe they discovered that if you used one of the SIM unlock methods it caused an issue that a baseband upgrade found in their new firmware upgrade will cause a problem. And maybe, just maybe, in order to avoid a flurry of bad press, they slipped this information out so that people who would be affected would have a chance to try to reverse what they have done first, or avoid the update until the hackers figure it out, so that there aren't stories all over the net this week about how Apple killed the iPhones that were hacked.
Yes, Apple has said that they don't want the iPhone SIM hacked, and they have to since they have exclusive deals with carriers. Heck since they seem to be getting a cut of service fees they probably really don't want you to do it, even though it will lead to more sales of units, especially if the fees work out to as much or more than the profit they make on the device itself. However in those same quotes of Jobs and Schiller saying that they don't want to see SIM unlocks, they also mention being interested in non-network local apps, and the possibility of doing something with them in the future.
Shawn's Tech Articles
So, who acutally owns your phone? You or Steve Jobs? Hmmm... This reminds me of the whole bundling issue that M$ is struggling with in Europe. I think it's high time users had a choice of software and providers for their hardware. Tyrants like Microsoft and Apple need to stop forcing people to use their software and give the consumer some choice.
The warranty is *only* what the company agrees to do about a defective product in absence of consumer protection laws and ownership rights.
Beyond the warranty, you have a wide range of rights to use your property regardless of who makes it. You own it. Its yours. You may void the company warranty, but you don't abandon your legal rights.
Can anyone explain the business sense? What does Apple gain by taking such a hard stance on not condoning modifications? Why wouldn't they have a hands-off approach, and not stand in the way of "developers"? Other technologies seem to be gaining so much more from a formalized, open API such as new users, cost-free (to Apple) additional features, and great press from supporting open source on a mobile device which desperately needs a corporate sugar daddy. At least it's my perception that the reputation and success of a company is benefitted by a wide and open developer community, maybe the board of directors have a different take (slightly fewer new cars per year). It seems to me that Apple is hoping to sell "toggle" features piecemeal at ridiculous additional cost, and make tons of money through an exclusivity agreement which is frankly going to severely limit the amount of money they can make with open carrier choice. But they know as well as we that there will be a minute fraction of people who will say "I want a different carrier so bad, I'll risk destroying my device" and "I want a custom application on there to the degree that I may not be able to use the phone component". But I think an overwhelming majority (and these people are the cash cows) will simply follow exactly whatever Apple says on the 10-step list inside the box just to get their iPhone activated. I don't understand why companies act like they're going to lose ridiculous money when someone steps up with an acute understanding of the technology and the willpower and skill to manipulate it. There is still a moderate technical challenge in modifying such a device as an end-user, which is a significant enough barrier to prevent the hordes from flocking to it by the thousands it would take to impact their revenue. Why not support this subculture with tools, and enable them to produce even more compelling features for normal users, and make available a Firefox-like Add-on hub? Isn't the fact that the words "firmware" "patch" "flash" and "usb" are essentially jibberish to the average joe user of this device enough to disuade the perception that the Unwashed Masses are going to hijack their product and form a new pseudo-Apple who will take over their IPs, sink their stock and put M80s in all their toilets?
FUD or real warning? I guess we'll know soon enough. I have a factory iPhone so I'm not terribly worried either way.
But even if this is a real issue where Apple can brick modded phones - I'd think the hacker community will have fixes in place within hours of the new patch. I mean, can't you just restore to factory settings, patch with the new patch and then rehack? I'm not an iPhone hacker by any means but its not a hard leap of logic to figure that out.
This is a pretty stupid story really. Did they say it will brick the iPhone or it might do so? What's the suprise that they will block the hacks when they release upgrades? Of course they will, at least this is what I told my friends who where contemplating purchasing one. Why would they lock it in the first place and not fix the "bug" that allowed it to be unlocked?
Sure I think it sux if they brick it on purpose, but on minimum I would almost expect the mods to be incompatible with future firmwares. Personally I'll wait for an unlocked EU version sometime in the future.
They didn't prevent anyone from unlocking the phone. They're just not supporting you if you do so.
/. crowd to understand? Apple specifically says that non-ATT use of the phone is unsupported. People who bought and hacked the phone knew that when they bought it. Apple didn't stop people from doing so, but they're not going to go out of their way to support them. Get over it.
Why is this so hard for the
This is like whining that Microsoft doesn't support people running Window-Blinds or some other hack.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
It's called a hack. Is a manufacturer supposed to work around your hack?!
These people need to get over it.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Why do I need this update? So it can brick my phone. Hrmm sounds like I don't need it. I thought about this eventuality before I bought and unlocked the phone. It's not really a big deal at all. What functionality does the update provide that would make me want to apply it? None nadda zip. So I won't be. iTunes music store wifi crap could not care less about. I don't buy music from any source that sells DRM music. iTunes want's to force me to update. I will use a third party synch tool or just good old FTP SFTP. I am perfectly happy with the way my unlocked iPhone works right now. And more importantly I get far more value from the new applications the hackers have provided than I do from anything new Apple is talking about. I mean the NES emulator is by far the coolest thing on my iPhone. So in short meh whatever.
Homebuilders' merchants Bricks R Us, Inc. today announced that in future all bricks they sell will come with a licensing agreement under which purchasers commit only to use their bricks for home-building purposes.
Bricks mis-used by their purchasers, for example in breaking into vehicles or in bar brawls, will automatically be turned into overpriced cellphones.
Umm, you're assuming its intentional. I personally don't see what the big deal is, you always have the option of not updating. Also, I think its unreasonable to expect/demand that Apple writes all their updates/software tip-toeing around whatever hack or unlock someone puts on an iPhone. You're using the product in a way that was not intended by the manufacturer, so you shouldn't expect the manufacturer to hold your hand. You knew there were risks in hacking the thing, and you accepted them. One of the consequences turns out to be not updating the firmware...get over it.
On the other hand, if it is intentional then that is some kind of bullshit. They don't have to support hacks, but they shouldn't try to intentionally bork phones that are hacked. I'm curious to know what people would think if the update only unhacked the phones instead of "bricking" them.
Pointing out how it is satire is a far more reasonable response than ranting how 'you should not use intel processors'
This is why i would never do it. Too much risk exposure.
If a device does not have the features i need out of the box, they don't get my $ in the first place and i goto a competitor.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It pales into insignificance alongside SHINY GADGETS! :)
throw new NoSignatureException();
Apple is actually warning people who hacked their iPhone that the next update COULD mess things up. Say thanks and shut the heck up. Maybe thay don't really mind that iPhones are being unlocked. Maybe they designed it in a way that would let those pesky hackers play with it. It would potentially give Apple a wider distribution, and more hardware sales. After all, they are a hardware company. If they were so evil, why would they even warn you ?
The good news is, it now costs $200 less to replace it. (Or $300 less if they use their Applebucks.)
my evil unlocked iPhone works perfectly on T-Mobile - without Visual Voice Mail
Use Google/GrandCentral's visual voicemail. Without 3G it won't be as fluid as it could be, but it's cross platform and carrier-agnostic.
Da Blog
Oh, please.
This is nothing more than Apple being nice enough to warn people who are hacking their own phones that Apple cannot predict the interaction of, and is in no way obligated to test such interaction with, third-party software running on iPhones. Apple isn't even under any legal obligation to provide firmware updates in the first place. If you want to take advantage of the new firmware, wither don't modify your phone into an unsupported configuration, or put it back to the way in came when you got it (and don't complain when the restore process, as above, bricks your iPhone).
Nothing to see here, move along. You want some cheese to go with that whine?
Yeah, there are things about the iPhone (and Apple) that piss me off sometimes (see my journal entries on the iPhone). Yes, I got one anyway when the opportunity presented itself. I was going to hold off to see if future software functionality was forthcoming, but I got the opportunity, and I'm enjoying my iPhone. I sincerely hope Apple addresses some of my issues, but I'm not holding my breath. I've done that in the past and been burned by Apple, so now I'm a bit older and a bit wiser.
Honestly, if $300-600 bucks is going to hurt that badly, you shouldn't be hacking in the first place.
The best way to deal with the iPhone is not to buy the goddamn thing. Seriously, I'm disappointed with the number of people that fail to consider this as not only an option but an obligation as a consumer. I find it aggrivating that consumers today will pay back a corporation that is engaging in disgusting and unethical behavior by handing them piles of cash money.
STOP BUYING IPHONES.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
> Of course it might "brick" a hacked iPod without them meaning to.
> Even if they are just making a minor update to a simple app, they
> might be using a newer version of an existing library.
It's one thing to not know about hacked devices and issue a regular software update that happens to brick a hacked device.
But it's another thing to be well aware about the hacked devices. The fact that they release an international FUD press statement shows that they DO care about them, and not exactly in the positive sense. They don't say "we'll break em", they do say something that - seen in this context - is about equivalent.
My 2 cents,
Marc
> Users can instead pray to the hacking deities...to write applications
> that will undo the unlocks, as it were
Or maybe they can send some Apple executives to jail instead.
I prefer that solution.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
And how many of those "fixes" have to do with obfuscating the iPod database and audio file titles, as part of the never-ending cat-and-mouse game that is DRM? I've had an iPod for years, and poked around on it a good bit -- terminal is your friend -- without hacking the firmware at all, and during that time, each "update" only ever seemed to do more to separate me still further from the music I had already bought.
Yes, it does -- the price I paid in the goddamn store. All this after-sale bullshit is really pissing me off.
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Steve Jobs publicly admits this is a futile war and yet he insists on fighting it. What really chaps my shorts is the fact that the cost of fighting a war that cannot be won will simply be passed onto all Apple customers. I'm so unbelievably tired of technology jackasses.
Let the damn people have what they want and quit playing the role of masturbating deity.
I am Jack's smirking revenge.
Moderators - can you explain why my post is flame bait? This is a serious concern - does supporting Israel, or being Israeli mean that you can't post on Slashdot?
/* Dang, I can't type that well. */
iCRAPPLE -- I'm Steve Jobs - And I Am Here To Help You!!!! - Suckers!!!!
Many countries in Europe mandate SIM unlocking. Is Apple planning on writing off that entire market? There are already some iPhone look-alikes available, some good, sone not so good. This will leave a huge hole for them to step into and, once that market shakes out the losers, they'll come over here.
Have gnu, will travel.
The amazinfg thing is that people are paying Apple millions of dollars to be abused this way and probably don't even get the "reward" of an orgasm at the end of the session. The decision making processes of an iPhone owner are decidedly suspect.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
Everyone saw this coming. You knew you were buying an intentionally-crippled device. You knew that it had "features" that were designed to serve interests other than yours. You knew that you were giving yourself over to depending on Apple for software maintenance. If you want software updates, you have to take the bad with the good.
Don't like it? Don't do it! Besides the obvious over-pricedness of this thing, the other reason I didn't buy on of these things is that the product practically screamed "Fuck you, customers!" at me.
If you bought an iPhone, I'm sorry for your suffering. But I also hope you learned something. Apple pulls this crap with all of their products, but if it took a phone for you to notice, okay. Now you're ready for whatever iProduct comes next.
Oh, and quit talking about the law. You're quibbling over fairly minor points in what tactics Apple is allowed to use in order to serve other entities' interests over yours. The more general campaign of fucking their customers over is strategically viable, and they'll find a way to do it, one way or another. Don't transact with, or try to get cooperation from, someone who is so explicit and up-front about being your enemy. Apple wasn't even a little bit devious this time. They told people to hand over their money and bend over, and people lined up to do it.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Yes you should be allowed to mod anything; however, you are updating THEIR software with new software from Apple. This means you are agreeing to the conditions they place on THEIR upgrade software! One of which is the classic disclaimers is "you can't blame our software for anything even if its our fault" BS which all software has today. If they do it on purpose you might have grounds to cause some legal trouble but otherwise you agreed to take all the risk when you clicked the button.
I thought you HAD to buy the phone with a contract for ATNT? Can you buy the phone without getting/paying for phone service? Anybody read that contract as well?
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
While individual banks might choose to have different terms, the standard is 30 days. Within that time you can stop charges but after that, you have to deal with it.
Y'all are a bunch of 'tards for wasting so much time on a phone.
It's J U S T a phone.
The joke is on you ALL!
Tech fools.
I note that just about everyone is presuming that Apple will be deliberately constructing an update to turn unlocked iPhones into bricks. While that's certainly possible, they are currently claiming that there is no such intent, but that folks should be aware that there's a possibility the next update will break unlocked phones.
Now, Apple could certainly be lying, but they have so far had a reasonable reputation for being forthright. Additionally, if their intent was malicious, they could have avoided saying anything (since the warranty text already disclaims warranty for modified devices), issued the update, and laughed as all the iPhone unlockers bricked their phones. It's certainly plausible that Apple has been testing updates with stock and unlocked phones and has noted that updates sometimes brick unlocked phones; that's at least as plausible as the "deliberate bricking" everyone is in a tizzy about.
I'm willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, but given how evil it would be if the bricking were deliberate, I'm hoping someone will reverse-engineer the update and find out the facts. Until then, though, let's not rush to attribute malice to a company that has been basically decent over the years.
I say, wait and see, and not make too many assumptions.
We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex—but Congress can. – Cullen Hightower
Don't know if this has been asked and answered there are so many responses its hard to read them all, but I was wondering if those that have unlocked iphones had some option to disable the update. Seems to me if I had one I would be looking for a way to just not get the update and stick with what I had til the smoke cleared and everyone figures out way around this.
Secondly, the product that gets bricked is not an iPhone. It's now a collection of similar hardware and software. It's certainly not compatible with the real iPhone (the one that apple supports) in specification or practice. If you install iPhone software on anything but an iPhone, you alone, not Apple, bear the consequences of such a decision.
Finally, Apple warned you about it in the warranty. They weren't curtailing your rights, they weren't forbidding you to do anything, they just warned you that your phone would no longer be supported or covered under warranty if you decided to modify it. Tough luck.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
Microsoft disables windows for people who use pirated serial numbers. BAD Apple disables phones of people who purchased the item. GOOD
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
Microsoft and Oracle don't make cellphones, and lock-in is quite a bit different than locked-down, so what are you comparing? And you can just about bet with safe odds that this WAS deliberate. then that's fine and dandy and sucks for everyone. However, I dont think anyone believes that's what is actually happening here. Thats great, what made you think that? Arstechnica told you so? Where's the actual press release? The only meaningful quote on Ars is:
"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,"
And from Ars:
At that time, we also said that we had reason to believe that the next update to the iPhone would brick iPhones that had been unlocked to use SIM cards from other GSM carriers, which Apple's press release has confirmed. Sources familiar with the matter have told Ars that the company did not decide to cause such irreparable damage to the iPhone intentionally, however, and Apple's statement appears to confirm this as well.
But lets jump to irrational conclusions anyway. This isn't any different than trying to run third party software on a fancy graphing calculator. You have to use third party tools to get stuff on it (and running) and a firmware update MAY brick it. Hell, you could extend this to almost ANY product that receives updates from the manufacturer. Unsupported hacks may break on future firmware updates. This is a non-story.
I think it's great that OpenMoko is embracing FOSS, and the Neo 1973 looks even more promising now that Qtopia Phone Edition will run on it. However, I'm looking forward to a more-likely candidate for an "iPhone killer", the Meizu M8...that is if there's some way I can run a FOSS OS on it...anyone know about something like that in the works?
Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms
Most of you must realize the iphone will be in use much longer that 2 years.
Given my experience with first generation Apple products, I really doubt it.
The more I read about the iPhone, the more I'm convinced that Steve Jobs is turning into Bill Gates.
What drew people to Apple and their products was they weren't Microsoft and that whole corporate "kill'em all" culture.
It seems that greed still is the root of all evil.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I don't think a class action is possible when a problems affects .01% of customers (Especially if they modified the product in ways not approved by the manufacturer)
Fools
I love allegories! Let me try one:
In other words, swim at your own risk, but don't bitch to us if you get eaten by an applegator that we release when you decide not to pay us to go swimming in the otherwise-safe lake.
FUNK!
Or all the sheeply who buy Apple could wise up and buy one of the many other viable Smartphones out there that are already GSM unlocked and tell Apple to stuff it.
Naw that won't happen because the marketing tells me it's just TOO COOL!
It's "iPod", "Apple", "iPhone", "contractual", etc... you moron.
Apple is attempting to defeat the law's intent, and it is moral to work around such attempts. This has nothing to do with the fact that the other party is Apple.
I made a separate point about morality not being ignorant of the other (such as when there is rational distrust), in order to address your more general point. Morality is not completely blind. I do myself believe in natural law and natural right, but these are rooted in equilibrium and human nature, and not in axiomatic rules.
If natural, rather than customary or conventional right is relevant here, it would be most likely the right to reverse engineer; law should not presume against natural curiousity and tinkering.
As for your examples, they push the approach that if right doesn't come down to simple rules, then there is no right. I believe that this position is unreasonable.
Wikileaks, no DNS
This is one of the most rediculous incidents of a "Telephone" (the game) like effect happening I have seen.
TFA says that "New firmware MAY brick unlocked phones"
Slashdot reports it as "New firmware WILL brick unlocked phones"
Now OSNews reports "Apple INTENTIONALLY bricking unlocked phones"
Wow.
I am not sure if you are trolling, but there is definitely homebrew and other purposes other than playing copied games for the xbox. For example; playing DVDs from all regions and using some homebrew media player to play your fairly acquired mp3s and videos for example.
Firehed - Unfortunately, thanks to medical breakthroughs, common sense is not as common as it once was.
Some rumor sites are asking for a whistle blower to come forward with regards to Apples directives on this patch. If there is one document , conversation or request within Apple or AT&T which shows intent to damage peoples property then a crime will have been committed (even if the patch is not sent out!). Apple is very smart to say they are not intending on damaging peoples phones in the press, but if one manager told a coder to do this, I suspect the story will leak. Apples intentions is the important point in regards to this patch. People legally have a right to use the phone with other carriers, Apple has a legal right to patch there product. Apple does not have a legal right to intentionally damage someone's phone as "payback" for not signing up with AT&T. Its tough to keep a conspiracy between two people, so I would just wait and see with this one.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Hmmmm,
Perhaps some owners of the disabled iphones should show Apple their appreciation by throwing their expensive bricks through Apple's expensive plate glass windows? Maybee if the phone is not heavy enough to break the glass it should be taped to a real brick????
Apple if your listening your backwater treaties with AT&T are a very slippery slope with your users. In order to please your puppet masters at AT&T your having to screw over some people who are quite loyal to your very expensive hardware. If you screw your customers what motivation are they going to have to come back to you to buy new hardware??
I personally have been a loyal Apple customer for years. That is until you screwed me on my Dual G5's power supply (with your cute narrow serial number range). With the new Beryl interface and the quad core intel chips and monster graphics cards out there I have a feeling my next desktop won't be an Apple.
Don't buy stuff from Apple. The company makes neat gadgets, true, but given the choice between doing something nice and doing something evil, it invariably chooses the latter. Make not buying Apple the sacrifice you make to the Gods of Right.
Just don't buy an iPhone.
The way the software unlocks (both by iPhone Dev Team and iSimFree) are done is that they have byte-modified some of the binary files on the phone so that they'd bypass the provider check. Just like the good ole' DOS days - take a HEX editor, change some bytes to NOPs. If those files are updated in the process of a firmware update with new and changed versions, it's a pretty expected consequence that those unlocks will be "voided". Calling Apple names for doing that is idiotic.
However, I as one of the owners of an unlocked iPhone will definitely start screaming if Apple will deliberately start to refrain me from using my current setup - such as upgrading the firmware on my phone without my consent or if it turns out that they have built some kind of a "timebomb" into the latest iTunes that will stop it communicating with my 1.0.2 firmware phone after the 1.1 is released.
because all they have to do is make their patch work only with their firmware. If none of their versions of firmware are on the iPhone, don't install.
AFAIK allows unlocking of phones.. You buy it, it's yours to use. Thats why certain companies are sim card-less, easier to keep them on the network. But, to knowingly send out a patch that could brick their product for users not using it in the way they wanted... That's a class action. Not to mention the possibility of it doing it to "legit" iphones, as they call it. Apple obviously didn't know what they were doing when they got into the cell phone business, they expected their phone to be their baby and nobody to actually exercise their right to unlock it. Phones are unlocked all the time, Craigslist and ebay prove that.
The day I unlocked my iPhone, I stopped updating iTunes on the Mac I sync my iPhone with. The unlocked phone is in a weird state which the updater doesn't expect. It's likely to cause issues, and we all knew it when we hacked our phones.
You're using past tense for something that hasn't even happened yet.
-Sammy iPhone
this is just sad behaviour from Apple. in my eyes they have been just like microsoft for
the past couple of years now. a company that is using bad ethics.
they are selling the iPhone at profit. They can easily allow carriers to use it, at profit.
if they sold the iPhone as a pure unlocked device for whatever network you wanted to use
it...heck. they'd have practically gained at least 30% market share by now. instead, with
these tied systems they've strangled their own device. O2 in UK? no thanks. most of us ditched
that carrier a while back. of course O2 got the iPhone, they've hardly invested in their
3G network infrastructure. a phone that only does GPRS/Edge is ideal for them. the rest
of the UK is awaiting the N95 for the masses release. or an iPhone2 that can REALLY do stuff.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding and/or mean-spirited interpretation of what Apple said. Three points:
So calm down with the hatred. As somebody who owns a SIM-unlocked phone (I unlocked it after Apple's warning), I do not expect to get updates or support from Apple, just like I won't install Ubuntu on my MacBook and then go cry to Apple when I can't run an update to Mac OS X inside Ubuntu, or when my wireless card does not work in Ubuntu.
How could Apple Legal not notice laws for cell phones? Surely, they put in stuff in the user agreements to address the issues involved-- one would think. Doesn't mean that it can't end up in court there are plenty of stupid laws to fix. Sadly, we don't have a fair system for dealing with those laws - even when both sides have equal funding and lawyers there are plenty of tricks; around my town hiring a lawyer from the same firm as the judge moves the odds in your favor (depending on the judge, naturally.)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Just a troll passing through, but reading these posts one would think that the end of the world was nigh.
I-phones, I-pods, I everything are vastly over-rated. But I have made a boatload of money buying and selling Apple stock because of losers like you all.
Keep it up.
There, fixed that for ya.
To make Apple take into account third-party hackery is just silly.
Aside from illegal monopoly practices, one of the ways Microsoft came from behind and grew so much faster and larger than Apple in the 80s and 90s was that it did actually spend a great deal of time futzing with DOS and Windows to attempting to ensure that as much of the "third-party hackery" extant would work on new releases. There are literally hundreds of thousands of lines of codes and exception and compatibility reg values in Windows there for no other reason than to get decades-old, badly programmed applications to run successfully.
So it is possible, if a company has a long-term vision of encouraging a wide userbase, of coding to deal with third-party hackery without disabling it or destroying the hardware.
Da Blog
Apple give rebate.
Apple then bricks all non AT&T iPhones
Where the fuck do you think the money is coming from?