Thanks iPhone Dev Team.

It is comforting to know that a restore tool is being worked on.

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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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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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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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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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Thank you dev team

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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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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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@ 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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@ 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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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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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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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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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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Thanks!!!!!!

When it hits im gonna hit you back with paypal!!!

Thanks!!!!

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@ 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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"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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Gim (11:30),


Please don't make strawman arguments like that. Once you buy the phone, you own it - and you can do whatever the hell you like with it. You may invalidate your warranty, but that's your choice.
Your childish rock/neighbours window analogy is fatally flawed - you speak of doing physical damage to someone else's property with it. And for that you would be rightly arrested and charged. This is not what people are doing, by any stretch.

In addition, despite the fact that you implicitly agree with the Ts & Cs by buying the phone, that does not affect your statutory right to do whatever the hell you like with something you have paid for and own, as long as you harm nobody else in the process.

Well done, dev team. :o)

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@ Elf (11:54)

Exactly. You're free to do whatever you want to it, but you agreed to the Terms and Conditions. Apple is also free to not support any of your modifications.

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