‘Unlocking’ software will damage iPhone, warns Apple

Apple Incorporated has said programs available on the internet allowing Apple’s iPhone to be used with other service providers besides AT&T can irreparably damage the device.

Apple, which also makes Mac computers, iPod media players and runs the iTunes online music store, said that once an Apple-supplied software update is installed on the iPhone, it “will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable.”

After the iPhone was launched on June 29, 2007, a “cottage industry” sprang up at websites offering software to “unlock” the devices from AT&T – effectively freeing them for use on other carriers.

Over than 1 million units of the iPhone has been sold so far.

Several hackers have declared success in finding ways to “unlock” the iPhone.

Such programs require some technical know-how to modify the device’s software and were expected to appeal to a small number of users who wanted to avoid signing a required two-year contact with AT&T or wanted to use the phone outside of the United States.

After the warning from Apple, some users of the iPhone expressed doubts that Apple’s software change would render the phone completely useless. Some others said the risks of “unlocking” were clear from the start.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice-president, said that at least two “unlocking” programs – iUnlock and Anysim – can cause the iPhone to stop working once the software is updated.

In the past, Apple has released software updates simply to prevent others from hacking into its products. But Schiller says that is not the case here. “We tested the phones and discovered that some of these unlocking programs permanently damage the software.”

Websites such as PureMobile and iphoneunlocked.mostofmymac.com sell the “unlocked” iPhone for $635 and $599 (compared with Apple’s $399). Other websites (such as iphoneunlockingtools.com, freeit4less.com) sell software for around $70 to “open” the iPhone.

Apple had cut the price of the iPhone sharply earlier in September 2007, but Phil Schiller declined to comment on the company’s financial performance so far in the quarter or its expectations for sales in the holiday sales period at the end of 2007.

In the past few days, Apple and telecommunications service providers in Europe have announced deals to provide service for the iPhone.

Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media, said: “Consumers will think twice, but hackers will come back and break the code. They always do.”