The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Apple reminds customers who's boss

All your iPhone are belong to us

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

Apple has issued a notice that unlocked iPhones could suffer permanent damage when they update the firmware, and reminded customers that such damage is not covered by the warranty.

The process of unlocking an iPhone is complicated, and involves code running at a pretty low level in the OS. Users may feel confident that they can always re-flash their iPhones using iTunes, but even that requires a working kernel (minimal OS) on the phone - damage that and you've got a Jesus doorstop.

Such damage is unlikely. Far more probable is that every time an update is installed users of unlocked iPhones will have to unlock them again, but Apple felt the need to remind people of the risk they take when unlocking the handset or installing third-party applications.

Engineers inside O2, the UK operator deploying the iPhone in November, are under the impression that Apple will be able to re-lock phones to their network when they're updated, but that will depend on the unlock process used and if Apple can be bothered to apply the resources needed to reverse it.

The assumption among many iPhone buyers seems to be that no matter what Apple does, the hackers will make everything work. The faith in techno-anarchism is touching, but may be misplaced if Apple just reverses everything with each update.

One Apple fan has even suggested all this is a good thing as it will drive Apple to create must-have upgrades, to encourage users to install them, making the iPhone an even better product for everyone. ®

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

Latest Comments

Shurely illegal?

I might be talking out of the nether here, but I thought it was a little-known legal requirement that, at the end of the contract term, a network provider had to unlock a handset if so requested by the customer?

0
0

@Gareth

Shut up.

That is all.

0
0

re The iPhone's a Fiasco

If the iPhone's a fiasco then how come Apple reached their sell a million units target a month early?

Remember, Joe Public does not go around adding this that and the other to their phones. If Joe public can work out how to make a phone call on a modern cell phone he (or she) is doing pretty well. Joe public is not downloading spreadsheets or writing dissertations.

A while ago (well probably about 2 months back) the BBC did a comparison piece about using the iphone against using a prada phone and another phone that uses touch screen tech (I can't remember what it was) The review concluded that two were form over function and that the other was the best "phone" that the reviewers had ever used. (although they did think it was a little expensive)

Have I got an iPhone? No. I've a crappy (but good looking) Nokia something or other that I got as a free upgrade. It has all sorts of bells and whistles on it. What do I actually use on it? the phone, the text and ..err that's it.

0
0

More from The Register

1,000 O2 staff chose redundancy over Capita
Betrayal, or just decent terms?
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
 breaking news
Pttow! Ofcom kicks hams out of MoD bands
Geet off my land, you, you ... 'secondary user'
 breaking news
Now you can use your phone instead of your wallet at the ATM, too
Blimey, these little paper towels out of the vending machine are really expensive
 breaking news
UK.gov's £530m bumpkin broadband rollout: 'Train crash waiting to happen'
Whitehall whispers of damning watchdog report next month
 breaking news
MySpace zaps millions of teens' tearful rants, causes wave of angst
'Your crappy redesign SUCKS, I wanna read my blogs' screech users
 breaking news
Microsoft Office 365 on iPhone NOW: No, we're not making this up
Word, Excel, Powerpoint for your pocket-stroker
 breaking news
EU signs off on eCall emergency-phone-in-every-car plan
GPS and a mobe in every car - do you suppose the NSA would fancy that?