Great point well made. We should point all the anxious macrumors folk this way for some 'real' analysis.

Apple is just launching the GSM iPhone in Europe. European laws generally provide much better consumer protections than U.S. law. For example, in some European countries the consumer has the right to demand that his/her carrier unlock the phone after a certain period of time. Belgium provides even more consumer protection. What Apple is suggesting, that a firmware update could deliberately break unlocked iPhones, might be illegal in many European countries.

Apple will make money following current business model in the US but not Europe. Why?

1. In Europe, the group that spends most money on mobiles (buying the phone and monthly) are the teenagers, not adults. The teenagers are the ones who buy ringtones, music etc. And they are NOT legally allowed to sign a contract with a carrier.

2. In Europe, most money are spent on sms, not calls. According to rumours, Apple is taking a share off carriers on calls, not sms, if true.

3. There are probably 150 markets around the world that Apple is worth entering in. This means that they will need to negotiate contracts with 150 carriers which, of course, is not going to happen soon, if at all. This is why Apple can make more money if they allow hackers to unlock the phones rather than some markets having to wait for Apple to sign a contract with a carrier.

Apple though is only interested in the US market plus 10-15 markets throughout the world. That is the real shame and proven considering where they are involved directly and where they sell and support the macs themselves. If they continue with this kind of model and do not open the iPhone globally, then unlocked iPhones are a better money-making option for Apple. But I am sure the carriers who signed contracts with Apple have a clause there regarding that.

of course Apple didn't put it on their own PR page. Apple refuses to comment on "illegal" activities such as ripping music off iPods, movies off DVDs, etc. It's policy not to discuss that stuff with customers. This is one of those things that Apple employees would not be able to comment on so of course they wouldn't post it on their own site. Besides the fact that if they commented on it on their site, more people who don't know about the Apple rumor sites would find out that it is possible to hack their phone, which Apple definitely wouldn't want. By commenting on it on their own site, they would be furthering the possibility that more people will hack their phone.

I'm not as upset as some people here, and not surprised by Apple's announcement. Of COURSE hacking your iPhone can cause problems. That's the whole idea of hacking - to get under the hood, maybe make things work better, maybe louse them up.

Apple has softly differentiated between SIM hacks and application hacks. They've sort-of-said SIM hacks are bad, while application hacks are something they'll tolerate.

The real solution to this is for Apple to release an iPhone API for real programming. Myself and every other developer has said this all along. That way Apple will "bless" new application development within a reasonable structure. With good rules to follow we'll have good, stable third-party applications. That's what I want. Fall outside the API rules, and all bets are off.

Don't get me wrong - you SHOULD be able to move your phone between providers at will. I don't like the hard connection between phone and provider. I wish I could buy the phone I want, then activate it with whatever provider worked best for me. But that's not how things work right now.

Anyone hacking the SIM knows they're asking for trouble, and shouldn't complain.

Great post. I think you're right about apple just wanting to scare people off the fence.

I disagree with your conclusion that apple definitely has complete control over whether or not their update will brick your iPhone. The SIM unlock isn't just software as you describe it, it's firmware. To be honest, I don't fully know why that's significant. But sometimes when I've applied firmware updates to computers they have required me to patch to a certain level before applying the latest patch. (For example, a Dell laptop had A03 and the latest was A24. Dell specified that I needed to patch to A23 before applying the A24 patch.) This indicates to me that firmware updates simply wipe the slate clean before applying the new firmware. The update must be building upon the existing firmware rather than starting from scratch. If this is the case, how can Apple be expected to build on a hacked firmware?

Any (informed) corrections to my understanding are welcome.

I'm not sure that it is legal for Apple to deliberately prevent people from using their phones on other networks. I may be wrong, but I don't think companies can prevent this for personal use. Apple needs to be very careful, or many many many lawsuits will come from this.

Simple solution. Once the firmware comes up stating that there is an available software update for the iPhone just decline the update. Don't update the firmware if you have an unlocked phone. They can't chase you down for that and brick your phone now can they?

I think this is a statement of fact, not a threat.

I don't know of a single product category in which the user can hack the product and still be under warranty. Nearly every electronic device has a box or a cage in it that says, "no user-serviceable parts inside" or "warranty void if opened." There are changes that you could make to home appliances or automobiles that would void their warranties also. The plain truth of the matter is that no manufacturer can anticipate all possible modifications and take them into account, therefore there is always some change you can make to a product that would void its warranty.

This is why Windows is such a mess. Microsoft let developers hack the system, for example, by storing things user settings in the Program Files directory, forcing all users to be administrators, or in the registry, making it fragile. All these hacks turned into legacy and Microsoft had to accommodate them. That is a contributing factor to the trainwreck we call Vista.

We all know that there are things you can do to a computer to make it into a brick, both Macs and PCs. There are also things that you can do to an iPhone to make it into a brick. It may be that Apple knows or has discovered that to hack the iPhone, you have to mess with things that are perilously close to the brink.

It is a bad idea to hack any product, because the manufacturer is neither clairvoyant nor omniscient and is unable to support it.

Denmark has even better consumer rights. The consumer can, for a small fee of less than 20$, demand to have their phone unlocked from day 1. After the 6 months that you are normally stuck with your phone company, they must, according to law, unlock your phone for free upon demand. Stick that in your USB port Apple :P

I thought the SIM unlock hack was accomplished using a buffer overflow opening? If so and Apple closes that to fix a security risk can you blain then for blocking the SIM unlock hack? I say no since the unlock was not approved software and exploited a security hole.

I don't think eve European law can fight Apple against fixing that?

Why should I have to wait for Apple to test an update against dozens of unlocking schemes before I can get additional features on my iPhone?

As a shareholder, I also don't want Apple to incur additional expense in doing so. If you're paying for unlocking software, it should be the responsibility of *that* company to make sure they're not breaking their customers' iPhones.

If you want to hack your phone, I'm all for it, but don't expect to be able to partake in Apple's future updates. Bring on the A2DP already, Apple! FFS!

Don't blame apple

This is the only knowledgeable post I've found on the subject. Taken from lancejjj on Slashdot:

As someone who has worked in the world of firmware of the mobile telephone industry, I can tell you that users can very well "brick" their device once they start messing with low level code.

All of our code went through an amazing amount of quality control - from design to deployment - to ensure that device never becomes a brick. However, in one instance, I recall another manufacturer with exactly that problem - the software was flawed enough such that the device could brick itself.

There was a work-around: ship the unit back to a service center, have a tech open up the device, and snap on a specialty programmer to reload the corrected low level code. The problem was that the manufacturer was not prepared for such an event, and so they didn't have the techs or equipment to perform this service fast enough for consumers. The cost went into several millions.

Of course, that's the case of a device with a flaw delivered from the manufacturer. It's quite different when the customer starts messing around with the guts of low-level firmware. At that point, it is only fair to have the customer pay for the physical disassembly and reprogramming, shipping, and associated administrative costs.

So "might" it happen? Yes, as it has happened, both by the manufacturer (in error), and countless times by individuals who screw around and inadvertently change APIs or inject buggy code that could be invoked by a simple software update. This isn't just an Apple thing - it happens industry wide.

I can understand why people want to hack and feel that they should be able to have the iphone with any service they want. I agree, you should be able to. Unfortunitly thats not how the iphone works right now. You can't buy a device, hack it to do what you think it should be able to do and then complain to the company whose warranty you voided when it bricks and they wont replace it. You bought the phone from apple knowing full well that when you void a warranty and hack something there is a chance that you will end up with a brick. Until you can design your own phone and patent 200 new technologies and produce it yourself you are going to have to accept that apple, or any other company that you buy a device from, has power over that device. You knew that when you bought it. Let's not make them out to be villans here, this is their product and the idea that hacking can brick your device is certainly not revolutionary. I don't really see why people are suprised or angry about this. Welcome to consumer electronics.

Whether you agree or not, Apple is wholly within their rights to do this, based on the license agreement every phone users accepted when they took up the phone.

(c) Except as and only to the extent permitted by applicable law, or by licensing terms governing use of open-sourced components included with the iPhone Software, you may not copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, modify, or create derivative works of the iPhone Software, iPhone Software Updates, or any part thereof. Any attempt to do so is a violation of the rights of Apple and its licensors of the iPhone Software and iPhone Software Updates. If you breach this restriction, you may be subject to prosecution and damages. By storing content on your iPhone you are making a digital copy. In some jurisdictions, it is unlawful to make digital copies without prior permission from the rightholder. The iPhone Software and iPhone Software Updates may be used to reproduce materials so long as such use is limited to reproduction of noncopyrighted materials, materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are authorized or legally permitted to reproduce. THE iPHONE SOFTWARE AND iPHONE SOFTWARE UPDATES ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE iPHONE SOFTWARE OR iPHONE SOFTWARE UPDATES COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.