Macenstein

Apple today issued its official stance on iPhone unlocking, and all indications are that if you were one of the few who unlocked your iPhone, either to use it with another carrier, or just for the sheer geeky thrill of it, you may soon have a $599 (minus rebate) or $399 brick on your hands.

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — 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. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.

The term “irreparable damage” is a little disconcerting here. We’re assuming this applies only to “real” unlocking, and not the iPhone hacking that iFuntastic and Installer.app allow for (or at least we hope so, for our sake!). But it looks like anyone thinking they might be able to just get away with a simple “restore” of their iPhone is going to be SOL.

This “news”, if you want to call it that, really should not come as any surprise. In fact, if I may toot my own horn here for a moment (the women may want to avert their eyes), I would like to take you with me for a ride in our WayBack Machine, to the sunny (I think) and care-free morning of Friday August 24th – the day the iPhone was first officially unlocked. In my critically acclaimed article “My conspiracy theory – expect an iPhone update with new features soon“, I point out that the first “real” iPhone update (one with new features, not merely bug fixes) has a good chance of not working on hacked iPhones, and may even render them inoperable if installed.

It is so rare one of my predictions comes true, I just had to share (after all, this one certainly bit me in the arse!).

Anyway, it looks like by the end this week we’ll know for sure one way or the other how serious Apple is about protecting its partnership with AT&T. That is of course assuming someone who risked their $599 investment to unlock their phone will tempt fate a second time and install the new update on their unlocked iPhone.

So, my NEW prediction…

Try as Apple might, odds are (unless the update is designed to fry circuitry of unlocked phones) there will be a workaround released within a couple days that makes unlocked iPhones play nice with the new update. Such is the cat-and-mouse game hackers live for (and Apple PR likely lives for as well. Amazing how easy it is to keep the iPhone in the press!).

In a war between the hacking community and any major corporation, I always side with the hackers. No corporation, no matter its size, is a match for the amount of free time a dateless 17-year-old boy has.