ZDnet on the iPhone bricking issue

[DivideBYZero]

Pretty scathing. What have been your experiences? When does hardware cease to be you own? Should companies have domain over a device even after you have shelled out hard earned cash?

ZDNet
By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
Oct 1 2007

If I was working over at Apple?s PR department, I think I?d call in sick today. In fact, I think I?d fake something really serious like Ebola or bird flu and try to get the week off, because the brown stuff has hit the fan head on over the bricked iPhones and cleaning up this mess is going to be tricky.

As far as PR goes, Apple?s enjoyed a long lucky streak. When I look at Apple I see just another multi-billion dollar company who?s prime objective is to add more dollars to the pile, something which Apple?s been very good at lately. Sure, Apple comes out with tech that has a high level of sex appeal, which in turn drives gadget lust and that in turn keeps the dollars flowing in, but it?s the dollars that matter. Others see Apple in a very different light. Some don?t see a corporation with billions of dollars, but instead see an underdog fighting against the oppressive regimes imposed on the poor, defenseless users of technology by other companies. To these people, Steve Jobs isn?t a CEO, but instead a freedom fighter, and a few times a year he and his band of guerrillas come out of hiding to take a stand against ?the man? before sinking back into the shadows.

But this iPhone bricking issue is likely to change how some people view Apple. Of crucial importance to Apple is how many people change their view of Apple. It doesn?t matter whether you agree with Apple?s decision to brick unlocked iPhone?s (let?s forget about those bricked iPhones that haven?t been tampered with) or not, you can?t escape the fact that it?s a hugely unpopular move. Jon (DVD Jon) Lech Johansen sums it up well:

Did Sony ever brick PSPs over homebrew software? Did Microsoft ever overwrite someone?s BIOS with garbage because they detected an illegitimate Windows installation?

In light of other things Apple has done lately, such as adding an encrypted hash to the iPod database to lock out non-Apple software and disabling TV-out on the iPod unless the 3rd party accessory you?re using has an Apple authentication chip, it?s evident that Apple is well on its way to become one of the most consumer hostile tech companies.

When Steve Jobs claimed the iPhone was 5 years ahead of every other phone, was he talking about the iPhone?s revolutionary handcuffs?

I just wonder how shiny did Apple executive think the company?s halo was and how much did they think they could get away with? No matter how you try to spin the problem, pushing an update that trashes your own product is not a good move. A far better solution would have been to push an update that just wouldn?t install onto unlocked iPhones. That would have been the right thing to do. Bricking them is wrong. Apple could have done this easily. It didn?t and instead chose to stamp on the little guy.

I?m also surprised and dismayed by Apple?s response so far. This quote is by Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock:

If the damage was due to use of an unauthorized software application, voiding their warranty, they should purchase a new iPhone

I guess Apple?s never heard of the old phrase ?Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice ??

And word of the bricking has spread to folks who?ve never seen an iPhone:

On Saturday I was going to a party at an apartment building. The buzzer wasn?t working, and I took out my shiny new iphone to call and get in. As I was dialing, a few young teenagers were coming out. They wanted to see the iPhone, and so I demo?d it in exchange for entry to the building. (Mmm, security.) As I was heading in, one of them turned back to me to say ?Be careful! The updates are bricking those things!?

I found that really interesting?they hadn?t ever touched the phone, but they?d heard about and remembered the risks of patching them and wanted to share.

In the words of the Mastercard ads, that sort of publicity is priceless.

Even the technophiles at Gizmodo have changed their iPhone verdict from a ?wait? to ?don?t buy? because of the stance that Apple has taken to third party developers:

It?s understandable for Apple to wage a war on unlocking the iPhone, since the company shares revenue from fees with AT&T. But the truth is, if cellphone service was awesome, like it is on iTunes, there wouldn?t be a need to unlock the iPhone. Secondly, bricking these things is totally uncool, and apparently, malicious?according to some early code investigations by the independent iPhone Dev Team, Apple could have avoided this entirely.

Screw the unlock for a second. Let?s talk about the those third-party apps. While my 4GB iPhone is a brick, and the 8GB phone, which I kept on a totally legit AT&T contract, is now stripped down. Programs like the faux-GPS, IM clients, Flickr Upload, and NES emulator?what did they ever do but make the iPhone far better than the stock original? They made it far more competitive with open-platform superphones like the Nokia N95, to which I will now be switching.

We also have the obligatory iPhone protest video and calls for a class action lawsuit.

It?s going to be a tough week for the folks at Apple?s PR department.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

I like the analogy of ....


what would happen if MS said you had to use Vista and Office on your PC as your only applications and could only connect to the net with AOL? If you tried to do something else they'd overwrite your BIOS?

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
I like the analogy of ....


what would happen if MS said you had to use Vista and Office on your PC as your only applications and could only connect to the net with AOL? If you tried to do something else they'd overwrite your BIOS?

So if you knowingly bought the PC knowing those terms and violated them then its MS's fault? God forbid somebody takes responsibility for their own actions and deal with the consequences!

 

[Kaido]

If you tried to upgrade your hacked iPhone before restoring the stock firmware and bricked it, it's your own fault. That's all there is to it. It doesn't make logical sense to hack your iPhone and then try a legitimate software upgrade, especially before reading reports of the effects it will have on a modified device. The people who have hacked iPhones, upgraded to 1.1.1, and now have bricked iPhones have nothing to complain about to Apple. It's like whining to Ford or Mitsubishi that your car's engine blew up because you used NOS while street racing.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
I like the analogy of ....


what would happen if MS said you had to use Vista and Office on your PC as your only applications and could only connect to the net with AOL? If you tried to do something else they'd overwrite your BIOS?

I see the point, but no one is forcing you to buy it. I completely agree that the iPhone should be open and should even have an SDK, but this is the way Apple is playing the cards. Nearly every negative review I've heard from iPhone owners or ex-iPhone owners is a result of not having done their homework before buying it. The iPhone at its initial $600 selling price wasn't a small purchase for most people...blindly buying it and then complaining about it's lack of features (voice dialing, gps, 3g, cut-and-paste, etc.) is pretty stupid. Yes, the iPhone should have had those features, but it didn't. If you want them, don't buy an iPhone. Going along with that analogy, if you don't want to use AOL or Office, don't buy Vista - go to a different platform. There's no shortage of offerings out there. Complaining about a legitimate problem is one thing, but people are whining because they hacked the iPhone and broke it - that's not Apple's fault!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork

Originally posted by: Shivetya
I like the analogy of ....


what would happen if MS said you had to use Vista and Office on your PC as your only applications and could only connect to the net with AOL? If you tried to do something else they'd overwrite your BIOS?

So if you knowingly bought the PC knowing those terms and violated them then its MS's fault? God forbid somebody takes responsibility for their own actions and deal with the consequences!

Exactly...people are complaining because they don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. They broke their toy by not abiding by Apple's rules, and furthermore skirted the logical option of not upgrading right away and thus broke their device. I'm not defending Apple, but if you're going to complain publicly you should make it for the right reasons, not because you messed something up yourself.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Are they renting it or buying it? It raises serious questions about what a consumer can do.

I don't really know why you are condoning a company actively destroying hardware because they don't like what you do with it. In reality they have no say. It's yours. To use your own analogy if you fitted a Ford with NOS and Ford didn't like it they could blow a f*cked map into your ECU so your car won't start. Is that fair? I don't think so.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Are they renting it or buying it? It raises serious questions about what a consumer can do.

I don't really know why you are condoning a company actively destroying hardware because they don't like what you do with it. In reality they have no say. It's yours. To use your own analogy if you fitted a Ford with NOS and Ford didn't like it they could blow a f*cked map into your ECU so your car won't start. Is that fair? I don't think so.

you'd take your modified car to Ford and expect them to happily fix it for free? Maybe even go out of their way to not disturb the mods you made even though it changed the way they designed the car to run?

iPhone owners (and I'm one of them, didn't mod except for 1 ringtone) feel ENTITLED to the free and completely optional firmware update(s). And they KNEW it could have adverse affects on the phone prior to upgrading! Heck, if you pirate MS Vista or XP you certainly don't try and get updates from Microsoft do you? Why? Cause it wont let you update!

So the questions isn't buying versus owning, the question is why do people feel entitled to have their cake and eat it too? As far as I'm concerned, the device you walked out of the store with is the one you bought, which does not include the updates to it adding functionality and fixing security issues.

Apple says no to 3rd party software and unlocks, if you want the latest and greatest firmwares you're going to have to play by their rules.

Besides, the iPhone has only been out for 3 months now. How long after release did WinMo or Palm OS take before having an SDK? (I really don't know the answer, but doubt it was within 1 nanosecond of release as everybody wants the Apple one to be). Apple has always been secretive about their products and releases, for all we know tomorrow they could announce and SDK.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Are they renting it or buying it? It raises serious questions about what a consumer can do.

I don't really know why you are condoning a company actively destroying hardware because they don't like what you do with it. In reality they have no say. It's yours. To use your own analogy if you fitted a Ford with NOS and Ford didn't like it they could blow a f*cked map into your ECU so your car won't start. Is that fair? I don't think so.

you'd take your modified car to Ford and expect them to happily fix it for free? Maybe even go out of their way to not disturb the mods you made even though it changed the way they designed the car to run?

iPhone owners (and I'm one of them, didn't mod except for 1 ringtone) feel ENTITLED to the free and completely optional firmware update(s). And they KNEW it could have adverse affects on the phone prior to upgrading! Heck, if you pirate MS Vista or XP you certainly don't try and get updates from Microsoft do you? Why? Cause it wont let you update!

So the questions isn't buying versus owning, the question is why do people feel entitled to have their cake and eat it too? As far as I'm concerned, the device you walked out of the store with is the one you bought, which does not include the updates to it adding functionality and fixing security issues.

Apple says no to 3rd party software and unlocks, if you want the latest and greatest firmwares you're going to have to play by their rules.

Besides, the iPhone has only been out for 3 months now. How long after release did WinMo or Palm OS take before having an SDK? (I really don't know the answer, but doubt it was within 1 nanosecond of release as everybody wants the Apple one to be). Apple has always been secretive about their products and releases, for all we know tomorrow they could announce and SDK.

I didn't say that. Don't put words into my mouth.

I suggested that in the course of normal maintenance, say an oil change which is analogous, for the sake of argument, to a firmware update(maintenance), if they discover NOS and decide they consider that an unauthorised mod, are they right to blow a fucked ECU map into that car? I don't think they are.

If you make an explicit claim upon the companies warranty on an item and that claim is compromised due to modifications then all the company has to do is refuse to uphold the warranty. To go out of their way to destroy your property is not their right. It is yours.

 

[pulse8]

My opinion on this matter is that the iPhone is basically a mini computer running OSX lite. If I buy a computer I expect to run whatever I want on it and Apple should have anticipated this desire from their customers and allowed development. This whole situation stems from Steve Jobs being EXTREMELY controlling about software and hardware.

That being said, I think anyone who unlocked their and then upgrading without knowing the consequences is an idiot. I would've never purchased an iPhone for the purpose of unlocking because of the lack of certainty with the unlock. The current situation was always one I expected from the beginning.

Anyway, I upgraded my iPhone to 1.1.1, didn't have any issues and only lost my 3rd party apps and ringtones. I only hope that someone cracks the update to allow for apps to be reinstalled or that Apple figures out that their customers' desire to use the product for more than they intended is actually a good thing. It just sells more phones.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Are they renting it or buying it? It raises serious questions about what a consumer can do.

I don't really know why you are condoning a company actively destroying hardware because they don't like what you do with it. In reality they have no say. It's yours. To use your own analogy if you fitted a Ford with NOS and Ford didn't like it they could blow a f*cked map into your ECU so your car won't start. Is that fair? I don't think so.

you'd take your modified car to Ford and expect them to happily fix it for free? Maybe even go out of their way to not disturb the mods you made even though it changed the way they designed the car to run?

iPhone owners (and I'm one of them, didn't mod except for 1 ringtone) feel ENTITLED to the free and completely optional firmware update(s). And they KNEW it could have adverse affects on the phone prior to upgrading! Heck, if you pirate MS Vista or XP you certainly don't try and get updates from Microsoft do you? Why? Cause it wont let you update!

So the questions isn't buying versus owning, the question is why do people feel entitled to have their cake and eat it too? As far as I'm concerned, the device you walked out of the store with is the one you bought, which does not include the updates to it adding functionality and fixing security issues.

Apple says no to 3rd party software and unlocks, if you want the latest and greatest firmwares you're going to have to play by their rules.

Besides, the iPhone has only been out for 3 months now. How long after release did WinMo or Palm OS take before having an SDK? (I really don't know the answer, but doubt it was within 1 nanosecond of release as everybody wants the Apple one to be). Apple has always been secretive about their products and releases, for all we know tomorrow they could announce and SDK.

I didn't say that. Don't put words into my mouth.

I suggested that in the course of normal maintenance, say an oil change which is analogous, for the sake of argument, to a firmware update(maintenance), if they discover NOS and decide they consider that an unauthorised mod, are they right to blow a fucked ECU map into that car? I don't think they are.

If you make an explicit claim upon the companies warranty on an item and that claim is compromised due to modifications then all the company has to do is refuse to uphold the warranty. To go out of their way to destroy your property is not their right. It is yours.

Actually, in the original post you said nothing about normal maintenance. I'll go along with that.

I dont see the firmware update as an oil change, I see it as reprogamming the computer chip in the car (is that the ECU?)

Anyway, if Ford has a new firmware for that, and they saw that you removed the rev-limiter from it, they will say they wont update it. Or if they do update it, they have every right to change the code so you cannot modify it. Don't like it? Don't upgrade, nobody is forcing you to!

The iPhone was never meant to have any user-modifiable software. They stated that before it was released, they clearly stated that in the TOS/EULA before each firmware upgrade (at the TOP of the text, not buried somebody in the middle in size 1 font). They even put out a press release prior to releasing the update!

Again, why do people feel they are entitled to a free feature-upgrade firmware/software release if they are using the device against its intended design.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck that they did it. I liked having my 1 ringtone on there. I would love to be able to modify the system sounds to make them louder. However, I did not by the iPhone based on what it can be, will be, or should be. I bought it for what it is currently, which means no 3rd party anythings for now.

 

[teclis1023]

The answer to this whole debacle is easy:

Updates
- Make updates accessible only to those with unmodified iPhones.
- Reset any 'bricked' iPhones back to their original state

Warranty
- Users who have physically modified their iPhone have voided their warranty
- Users with illegal software still have hardware warranty

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: teclis1023
The answer to this whole debacle is easy:

Updates
- Make updates accessible only to those with unmodified iPhones.
- Reset any 'bricked' iPhones back to their original state

Warranty
- Users who have physically modified their iPhone have voided their warranty
- Users with illegal software still have hardware warranty

Well we know what the answers should be, but Apple know better. Apparently.