Image courtesy of Flickr user, chealion
Bummer, dude.
Apple is fighting those who would dare to hack their precious iPhone. The New York Times’ Bits Blog puts it this way:
There is something futile about the way Apple appears to be fighting some of its most ardent fans.
A VC says:
Reports that Apple is “bricking” phones with their 1.1 update are outrageous to me. I realize that Apple has a business deal with AT&T and they make it very hard to unlock the phone as a result. But honestly they shouldn’t be destroying phones that have been “hacked”. That’s obnoxious. Very few iPhone users are going to go to the expense and hassle of unlocking their phones. Apple should know enough to look the other way on that kind of activity and let it exist as a “gray market”.
Apple is complicating things that don’t need to be complicated. If they want to offer AT&T an exclusive, that’s one thing. But when a consumer buys a device, he or she can do whatever they want with it. I love Apple’s OS and hardware and the iTunes store, but their draconian nonsense can’t end soon enough.
[SEMI-RELATED UPDATE] Ev is on his fifth iPhone already.
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Actually, I tend to side with Apple on this one.
I own an iPhone. Apple gave plenty of notice that by updating to the new 1.1.1 software, there existed the possibility of ‘bricking.’
Don’t want to take that chance? Don’t hack the phone – or don’t upgrade to 1.1.1.
Apple has contractual obligations to AT&T to at least maintain efforts to keep the iPhone the iPhone secure.
Besides, there haven’t been that many reports of actual ‘bricking.’ Sure third party SIM cards on other carriers no longer work, but pop your AT&T SIM card back in and you are back in business.