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Apple Error Leaves iPhone Developers In the Lurch
canadacow writes "iPhone developers enrolled and active in the iPhone OS 2.0 beta program got a nasty surprise today when Apple inadvertently 'expired' the recently released version. While for a beta program this typically would not be an issue, Apple has yet to release a new deployment of the iPhone OS. So developers like myself who use their iPhone for both actual phone and iPod use are bricked. Of note, this particular expired build is just 11 days old."
Now you know what Radio operators feels like when we geeks talk about "bandwidth". Perhaps it's karma ;)
I would agree with you if the people you refer to used stock firmware, however we have requested and gone out of our way to use Beta firmware in order to get a head start on developing for the platform. Although I am frustrated that my phone has had bugs since I loaded the beta firmware and I am upset that my phone is not working, I recognize that I placed myself in this situation by switching to the beta software despite Apple's warnings posted in their portal about doing so. However I am mostly angry with myself for being too "cheap" to buy a test device (an iPod Touch maybe) and instead opted to use my primary phone for development.
Beyond its inherent features, people (like me) bother with the iPhone because of their experiences with other phones, which have opaque manuals that attempt to explain how the phone would actually work had the carrier not installed their custom OS on it and disabled the useful features to force you into their pay-per-use services. Oh, and some people (like me) were already with the carrier in question.
I hope that cleared that up for you.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
Unlocking isn't illegal.
The phrases you missed from my post are "regular customer" and "as intended". That excludes unlocked phones ("jailbroken") and beta testers. Those articles all reference unlocked phones and those that install 3rd party software before Apple offered any.
Developers: We can use your help.
It's worth mentioning that no one else is doing this. I mean, my RAZR may suck, but I don't get bricked if I'm putting MIDlets on it. Qtopia's not bricking your antique green phone. Get it? Why is Apple doing this crap at all? Why do they have it locked down so hard? Why should they make it so hard to develop software for their phone? And why are so many Apple fanboy developers willing to put up with this kind of abuse?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"