Schiller on unlocked iPhones

There is an important point I have not heard discussed. How can one void a hardware warranty by installing software on a device?

If you're running software that is unsupported, why would you want apple to support it?

However if the hardware fails, you should get it fixed under the warranty. You paid a premium for this and you should have it.

For the record, you CAN load other software on the Xbox. Heck, you can even load linux.

I'm happy with my unlocked iPhone and I am sure only an ever cooler gadget will get it out of my hand and not a Apple lockdown. This is why:
First: I read all the licenses on the box and the screens I encountered until I iBrickered the phone and I think Apple left a loophole open. The fineprint on box says "plan with ATT required to activate all iPhone features". It is rather protecting Apple fitness for purpose than spelling out an obligation to sign up and activate service with ATT.
Second: Apple of course can do whatever he and his buddy want to do with the product. In a hypothetical case of Apple blocking the reload of the 1.0.2 firmware version after a failed 1.1.1 upgrade I believe a new underground distribution of firmware will start. Just like how you can have various unofficial versions for the Razr phones. Sooner or later 1.1.1 and later upgrade images will be broken into, sliced and diced into individual components and installable features which can be injected back into to old 1.0.2 code base. So I am waiting to see how Apple reacts, and I trust the Apple employees they would rather quit their job then code something that causes irreparable harm to the unlocked iPhones.

First off,
I own an I-phone and 3 hours after I had activated my i-phone (the at&t way), I loaded up I-Bricker and modded the holy hell out of the device. Their was no reason for this action, I did it because I could. I do like the ability to add new aplications and also the ability to see the file system and different interworkings of the device. I still use the device on the at&t network and have no reason to do otherwise. I paid full retail for the device (we do not get discounts) and I have a contracted account with at&t wireless. I understood that as soon as I "hacked" the phone, I was on my own for tech. support. As far as "hacked", umm no. The device is not hacked, it is modified.

With that said, I do not understand why what I have done could cause a bricked phone. I know what files were tampered with and I also understand why certain "updates" might not like these mods. But, there is no reason any mod should lock me out of the bootloader unless intended to do so. If the phone is not physically damaged, I should be able to put the device in recovery mode, install a backed-up file system and be up and running in under an hour.

I have modded several phones in the past, a few i-pods and several other devices. Never have I had a fear that an update would render the device unrecoverable. If the hardware is intact and of factory specs. There is no reason the device could not be recovered.

Hopefully this is a scare tactic on apples part, and the threat has no teeth. If not, i'm sure a quick dissection of the "update" will reveal a nasty little CRC, hell bent on destroying anything it doesn't recognize. The "just not compatible with a "hacked" phone " theory holds no water.....

Its seems apple tosses out the word "Hacked", maybe A couple higher ups at apple should remember their roots and what the name "hacker" use to mean to them. I understand you have a company to protect guys, I also understand you are in contract with the most powerful communications company in the world.... But if you dig deep, you already know why the I-phone was "hacked".....
Because we could...
No laws broken, no attempt to take down on big business...
Just a simple question of "can we do it"....

I will get of my soap box now and I'm probably going to toss the I-phone in recovery and load the original OS back on it. I can't live in fear that something I paid so much for will become useless.

“…Apple is actively messing with the firmware on the computer to *break* things they've installed and find enjoyable/usefull.”

This is an overdramatic statement. “Actively messing with the firmware” would be if Apple broke into your house in the middle of the night and forced you to install its updates at gunpoint. Last time I checked firmware updates don’t install themselves. Nobody is “actively messing” with anything, Apple is simply not wasting time making sure that their official updates work with all the grey market hacks out there.

This statement is just a fair warning letting you know what you should have already known when you chose to mess with the firmware in the first place: proceed at your own risk.

I'm a Mac fan but when it comes to the iPhone I would rather have it
working properly, oh and only 16GB and a price tag of US$440/£269 is a bit much, then there is the 18 month contract where the
minimum tarriff is equal to the maximum tarrif on other phones (about $70pm). Still I might go to the opening day in November when the iPhone goes on sale.

I'll wait 18 months or so when I'll get it on PAYG or on a decent network
(O2 is like AT&T here in the UK), and it will have a bigger hard drive. :)

you bought the phone, you had the opportunity to read the warranty info. if you mod your phone and then an apple update breaks it, it's nothing but your fault. but 'hostile action'? that's absurd.

there are reasons apple left off features. just because they could or should be there doesn't give you the right to mod your phone to include them and then whine. i'm waiting for 10.5 and the compatible phone updates before i make the decision to hack my phone. i'm sure there will be many new features added.

@44:

Because it's not a computer. I could say the same thing about my Playstation 3 or XBox 360, but I can't install anything I want on those platforms. These types of devices fall into a classification of computer that limits your experience to only what the device was built for. The user experience is not designed around complete control. It is designed around doing what it does well.

Oh, and if you read the press release folks, you'd actually know who is in danger here -- the people who have UNLOCKED their phones. These people are the ones who decided to migrate their phone from AT&T. People who decided to install software via Jailbreak or Installer.app have no risk in the upcoming patch, since they do not modify the firmware.

@Kirk Rheinlander "Adding a front paint protector- aka car bra - (application) to the car does not void the warranty, but you would be best served by removing it before repainting the car (installing upgraded phone software). "

This car analogy is silly, especially when there is a much closer product that Apple does sell from which to draw a comparison: a computer.

I just bought a MacBook Pro. I've loaded 3rd party applications on it. This is expected since it's a multi-purpose computing device, just like the iPhone. If there are OSX updates to install online (using Apple's update software -- kinda like iTunes for the iPhone) should I remove all that third party software prior to letting the OSX download and install the updates? Of course not.

Apple installs that crummy Intel graphics chip in the Minis and Macbooks. It is not capable of running even 5 year-old games like Warcraft because the simple 3-D graphics are too much for it. Why doesn't Apple lock down the Mini or the Macbook so it cannot load these games? It would, as others have commented on the iPhone, ensure a good user experience by preventing software that is not intended to run on the hardware.

The iPhone is a handheld computer--a multi-purpose computing device. Adding a cell phone radio doesn't make it any less of a computer. In fact, it compares quite favorably to the first few generations of Macintosh computers. (8Gigs! 600Mhz processor!) How is this device not as much of a computer as those?

Well, it's called a "cell phone" and it was inserted into the cell phone market in the USA where the teleco providers use draconian lock-in models to ensure high profits. Apple innovated in this space by creating device lock-in at a deeper level than AT&T, Verizon, etc could have ever imagined.

But people still perceive the iPhone as a _computer_ and they expect to use it like one, which means loading software to support their needs. They react viscerally to the notion that Apple wants to tell them what software they can and cannot run, by whom, when, and at what cost. Further still, Apple is actively messing with the firmware on the computer to *break* things they've installed and find enjoyable/usefull.

Microsoft did this with Dr DOS. :-)

courgette said:

20. "Apple has clamped your wheels so you can't drive into Canada, because they have a deal where you can only buy gas from a US distributor.

If you remove the clamps, when you cross the border again your car will explode."
*************************
Putting a case on the outside of the phone (the clamps analogy) is NOT the same as modifying the internals of the phone software (engine). One of these 2 scenarios will break the iphone (car) warranty, or maybe even blow up the engine.

Adding a front paint protector- aka car bra - (application) to the car does not void the warranty, but you would be best served by removing it before repainting the car (installing upgraded phone software).

There are reasons for why companies, individuals, organizations, etc. do things a certain way. If you don't like what they do or why, use your free market power and go buy something else from someone else. Don't whine about why you can't hack something up and still get warranty repair.

If you were a writer, and someone re-wrote what you wrote, are you responsible for the edits?

What Apple could do to appease all the whiners, might be to produce a iPhone that is open to any network, costs $2000 (development revenue recovery and support costs for ongoing operations), and forgo any recurring cash flow from negotiated agreements with the carriers.

But then everyone would be whining about the cost differential - they already whine when the parts cost analysis shows a $100 in parts, and a $400 price - like development, salaries, lights, power, shipping, advertising, etc. are all free. Wish I could pay my employees based on just cost of raw materials - everyone would be working for free!