Filed under: iPhone
"iPhone Dev Team" issues statement
A spokesman for the iPhone Dev Team, the group that developed the iPhone unlock has issued a statement condemning Apple and promising a tool in the next week which will restore your iPhone to a factory-fresh state. The unlock, he writes, made the iPhone free and useful world-wide, not just in certain countries. The text of the statement, with modifications for grammar and spelling, follows after the break.9/25 Statement from the iPhone unlockers
Based on download numbers, the iPhone Dev Team believes that, worldwide, several hundred thousand people have unlocked their iPhones. That number continues growing every day. The removal of the lock, a bug, was a major step forward in the iPhone development. It made the iPhone free and useful to anyone, not only to those in certain countries.
Apple now announces that the next firmware update, expected later this week, will possibly break the handset of all of us free users in the World. It speaks of "damage" done to the firmware and "unauthorized access" to our own property, The removal of those firmware problems, which were built in in favor for AT&T, does not cause "damage" as they want to make us believe.
We will provide you with a tool in the next week which will be able to recover your nck counter and seczones and even enables you to restore your phone to a Factory-like state.
In the meantime we advise you not to update your free iPhone with the upcoming firmware. Wait for the next version to be fixed to work properly with your carrier and not break your phone.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Seer said 12:30PM on 9-25-2007
Awesome!
The amount of sensationalist crap the Apple statement has created today is unreal!
For a claim of software 'Damaging' hardware should be an embarrasment to a 'tech' company like Apple.
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Mitch said 11:20AM on 9-25-2007
Thanks iPhone Dev Team.
It is comforting to know that a restore tool is being worked on.
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Matt said 11:22AM on 9-25-2007
Your efforts in making the phone available to anyone are commendable, but Apple has no obligation at all to work around the hacks. I know there are lots of people bent about this development, and I hope nobody ends up with a brick. But, play with the bull, you get the horns.
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Jeremy said 1:38PM on 9-25-2007
I love my iphone - not because of apple, but because of the incredible dev community building on top of the handicapped platform. This response to their ludicrous statement proves that the community is far more benevolent and responsive than even companies like apple.
Thanks to the dev team.
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Gim said 11:30AM on 9-25-2007
The nerve of some people these days.
"The removal of the lock, a bug, ....."
"It speaks of "damage" done to the firmware and "unauthorized access" to our own property..."
The hardware is their own property, but it's use is subject to the software license agreement that they agreed to when purchasing the iPhone. Did the iPhone Dev Team not read the iphone software license agreement??
http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iphone.pdf
Just because they "own" the iPhone hardware doesn't mean they can *legally* do what ever they want with it (and then complain indignantly when the Apple simply warns them). I own a nice big rock that I found in my backyard, but that doesn't mean I have the right to throw it through my neighbor's window.
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TomBom said 2:57PM on 12-19-2007
Pity that Apple starts doing what we all hate Microsoft for...
I can only hope that paralel to this, next time when I buy a TV set, the maker won`t rule me what programs I should and what programs I should not watch on it. Maybe a solution could be if Apple don`t "sell" iPhones anymore, but call it a lease or something.
Thank you Gim for schooling us all --- X Tom
ce said 11:33AM on 9-25-2007
I'm a bit confused. It seems as though a lot of people believe that Apple should ensure that updates do not break their iPhones, after they have voluntarily hacked into them.
While any owner can obviously do what they like with their device, surely Apple has no obligation to cater for these changes?
I'm sure I'd be pretty annoyed if I hacked my phone and then an update bricked it, but that would be my problem, not Apple's.
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pcompernolle said 11:36AM on 9-25-2007
thanks, dev team. you've made my iPhone a hundred times more useful to me than it was before, and i hope apple realizes what they're doing here.
really, thank you.
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Sean said 11:37AM on 9-25-2007
Thank you dev team
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Trevor said 11:39AM on 9-25-2007
They are nice enough to warn people who have hacked devices before they go and update and Apple gets flack? Wow, if you expected Apple to make sure your hacks would work with each new firmware update they release you are delusional. You should thank them for giving you a warning before your little prize became an expensive paper weight.
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wififun said 11:40AM on 9-25-2007
I understand the reasons for people wanting the unlocked phones for use with other carriers, or locations. However, there is a very blurry line between an unlocked phone, and one modified to run 3rd party software. As someone who has very much enjoyed developing a popular 3rd party iPhone application, I would like to see more distinction in the posted articles. Granted I know the difference, but spend 5 min in #iphone-uikit, or #installer.app and you will see many people who do not.
I know several people with iPhones, when you mention to them 3rd party applications, they immediately think of hacked and unlocked phones. They are not willing to give up their ATT plans, or risk getting in "trouble". They see no difference between the two very different modifications. I would love to see more people installing 3rd party apps, but as long as stories about the iPhone modifications assume readers know the difference, we are not going to get very far.
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Christopher said 11:43AM on 9-25-2007
@ Gim - I suggest you research a bit more, you seem to have the laws skewed. There is a 3 year amendment to the DCMA allowing you to legally unlock your phone. This LAW trumps any license agreement.
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Christopher said 11:42AM on 9-25-2007
@ Gim - I suggest you research a bit more, you seem to have the laws skewed. There is a 3 year amendment to the DCMA allowing you to legally unlock your phone. This LAW trumps any license agreement.
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Billy K said 11:44AM on 9-25-2007
Needs still more "modifications for grammar and spelling."
I mean, sheesh. I understand these are hackers/programmers/etc., not English Teachers, but English *is* their first language, right?
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wb said 11:46AM on 9-25-2007
unlocking a phone is nothing like throwing a rock through a window... meh
the unlock causes no harm to property. it may cause harm to someone's profit margin... free market? I think not, but we all know this is never desired from AT&T's past.
If I buy a piece of hardware, I think I should be able to do whatever I like with the hardware... however, I do have to agree with the software use issue. Money drives the market... in a ideal world software would all be GPL.
In regards to the legality... again money makes the world go around. The Corporate States of America is governed by a Congress controlled by their "constituency", the corporations that feed their campaigns! This we actually have control over... term limits, make corporate lobbies illegal, take the Press back from the Corp. conglomerates!, etc.
stop watching American Idol!!!
WAKE UP & demand action from your congress and your neighbors!
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Evan Howlett said 11:46AM on 9-25-2007
I really don't understand why people are so angry about this. Any time modifications are made to ANY piece of technology via an unauthorized third-party, you run the risk of royally screwing up said piece of technology. Many of the people who are praising the unlocking teams for "freeing" their iPhones fail to realize that the reason Apple tied into a specific carrier is so that they could levy control over more than just the phone hardware. That iTunes activation? Visual Voicemail? Purchasing it just like an iPod? None of that happens if the phone is sold unlocked. Do you all really think that Jobs could get all the major carriers in the US to agree to support Visual Voicemail or an iTunes-based activation from home? Not a chance.
The iPhone is a revolutionary EXPERIENCE, not just a revolutionary product. If you want to mess with your experience, you're free to do so, but don't get pissed at Apple if it ends up biting you in the butt at the end of the day.
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DT said 11:46AM on 9-25-2007
I propose a new tag: iPhoneDelusionsOfGrandeurTeam
Really folks, get over yourselves. Hacking the iPhone is cool. Whining about Apple's efforts to stop it is not. If you're not having fun playing the cat-and-mouse game with Apple, then why are you doing it?
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MT said 11:47AM on 9-25-2007
Thanks!!!!!!
When it hits im gonna hit you back with paypal!!!
Thanks!!!!
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pix said 11:54AM on 9-25-2007
"I own a nice big rock that I found in my backyard, but that doesn't mean I have the right to throw it through my neighbor's window."
unlocking the iPhone for personal use has no effect on your neighbours.
so a more acurrate analogy would be to say that you have every right to throw that rock through your own window.
of course a smarter person who wanted the rock inside would just open the door and take it inside... which also fits nicely with this analogy. The dev team just opened the door for us without doing any damage so you can have anything you like inside your house. without the broken windows.
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Evan said 11:51AM on 9-25-2007
@ wb
You are certainly free to do whatever you want to your piece of technology. By all means, knock yourself out and unlock/hack it all you want. But what you absolutely cannot do is get pissed if an update is released that does not support your third-party modifications.
Hack away, but you're on your own if it breaks and Apple is under absolutely no obligation to tailor it's updates and feature additions to your modifications.
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