First the unlocking, then the conspiracy theories. Like guilt-riddled children peeking at their presents on Christmas Eve, anxious bloggers are wondering what electronic spanking Apple may have in mind for anyone who chooses to unlock their handset from AT&T. Cupertino’s predicted revenge has so far run the gamut from remote re-locking to death-by-stunted-features.
It’s this latter point which has got most people worked up. Both Macenstein and Urban Coffee suggest that Apple may have been waiting until the iPhone was illegitimately unlocked before releasing feature updates that would only be accessible to untampered handsets. Thus functionality such as MMS, video recording, iChat and even 3G connectivity – appearing on as-supplied iPhones with nary a murmur – would be unavailable to anybody who has broken their Terms of Service and fiddled with their cellphone.
While it may sound sneaky, it’s been observed that Sony already operate such a system with their PSP handheld console: every time a firmware version is cracked, Sony release an upgrade with – importantly – a new feature which encourages users to install. That way they keep frustrating the homebrew crowd.
What do you think, can Apple and AT&T afford to ignore the upcoming unlock fest? And how will they tackle it – litigation against those responsible, or locking out those users who choose to hack their iPhone and prevent them from future software upgrades? Does this make you more wary of unlocking – or even using Jailbreak or any of the software hacks? Let us know in the comments.
Hopefully they take the software update approach theres always times where i say why doesnt this phone have it but everyone else does?
Hmmm….
This article got my full attention, especially since I jailbreaked my iPhone last night (and have been enjoying the games off of installer for not even 24 hours). It would suck if apple decided to attempt to keep new features out of hacker’s hands. But even if they decided to do that, hackers will find a way to either bypass the installer security or restore their iPhone to it’s original unjailbreaked state :)
Apple doesn’t want to get to uppity and start pissing off it’s greatest allies, ie. Hackers and Geeks They have to “keep it happy” and make it a win win . (I Hope ! )
first off, sony is run by a bunch of prick’s, who hate their users…hence why they keep trying to shove their proprietary format bull-shit down everyone’s throats! (Beta, Mini-Disc’s “Atrac”, Blu-Ray, etc).
2nd, apple is run by a bunch of cool kids, who get paid lots of money, and they like to make sure they’re stuff is WAY outside of the “box”. (where as sony wants to try to keep you locked in the “box” ala malware, spyware, various DRM, etc).
Apple will probably release new features over the next year. but there probably wont be anything revolutionary (like a video recorder). Why? Because you can make a WHOLE lot more money by telling people if they buy a NEW handset for $800, they will get this FANTASTIC “Flash”, Plus “Video Recorder”, etc. Sure, you & i know that its a minor software update, but my dad & all of his corporate douche-bag buddies dont know shit about the internet or computers so they think there’s some “magical new chip” in the next gen-iphone that allows you to do it.
For instance the mac-mini vs. apple-tv. its basically the same product, just different software (hence why smart homebrewers can turn an appleTV into a cheap mac-mini).
Anywho, i totally support the homebrew crowd, the stuff they’ve done with the iphone as of late, (install.app, lightsout, NESemulator, MobileFinder) is FANTASTIC! no way Apple would have come up with all of these features. apple has really missed the boat on allowing for 3rd party software development. i can understand that its AT&T that they’re trying to protect by not releasing an SDK (think about VoIP, and all the other AT&T circumventing that would be happening right now in Homebrew land, if there was a proper SDK).
Its the first rule of the internet, if there’s a way to prevent someone from doing something, there’s a way to allow them to do it, either through code, hardware, or both. In the case of the iphone its only a matter of time before homebrew cracks the shit out of the iphone and we’re able to do some truly mind-bending things with it.
as for the un-locking. i’m going to wait to un-lock. it’s totally possible that apple will release a firmware update that could resolve my major compliants with the iphone (ie; SHITTY RECEPTION EVERYWHERE!).
because if they released that, i would still hate AT&T (cause lets face it, that company is the mcdonald’s of Telco and that just sucks).
So far I’m not too impressed with the homebrew available from the installer.app. Yeah, I’ve got it running, and it’s a cool prospect… but if Apple offers video recording, iChat, or (!) 3G surfing, I’ll restore my iPhone right back into the fold in a heartbeat.
spyglass you sound like a complete idiot, apply everything you said about sony to apple fool. Not that sony aren’t asswhole, but you’re a brainwashed bigger one if you think apple is any different, AND THE IPHONE IS THE CLEAREST PROOF TO THIS.
lol I hope not! for real it would suck if apple does that! but I don’t think they will..most of the people Jailbreak or unlock the iphone and if apple but restrictions on them then bo! they will go to HTC which is competing with apple right now..the iphone is not worth it if its not jailbroken! I can’t do anything with my iphone if it wasnt unlocked…bottom line as one of the guys said..apple cannot mess with its own customers in this way..