in Considerations, Mobile Phones

Apple Warns Hacking iPhone May Harm It

20090925iphone_hack.pngOn Monday Apple executive warned iPhone owners that hacked their iPhone that such a modification may turn their precious device in a brick after the future firmware updgrade.

You may have a look at the original article from Associated Press by clicking this link.

Well, were you thinking Apple could say something different from that?

To be honest, I think not.

Is that a true possibility? Technically speaking it may be and much depends on how Apple will release the next firmware update and how far they will go chasing hacked iPhones.

I had a quick look at how the various hacks works. From activation bypass to fully unlock the handset. It is very true that you are touching sensitive areas of the handset phone. From the operating system files (not really harmful) to the baseband firmware (potentially very harmful).

I think that if you activated/unlocked your iPhone you may want to stay with current firmware (1.0.2) without ever wanting to upgrade to the new one. Several people are investigating on how to bring an iPhone to its original factory state but no reports have yet come out on the subject.

At the end of the day you will not be forced to do any upgrade. You will always have to press the OK button to reflash your handset. If you wanted to stay up to day with official software release your only option was to stay with Apple and AT&T. Simple as that.

Why do I blog this? I have seen so many people in different forums frightened by the next firmware release for iPhone. That’s simply crazy. Just cool down and wait. And if you unlocked your handset just stay with it, as is.

P.S. I have written a lot about the iPhone recently and I think I will stop talking about this in the near future. I agree it’s a great piece of hardware and software but there are so many other interesting devices on the market. (e.g. BlackBerry.. one of the worst user interface I have ever seen (joking…) but a killer application that is selling hundreds of thousand of units, just to say one).