Did Apple do it on purpose?

Apple iPhone warning proves true

An Apple software update is disabling iPhones that have been unlocked by owners who wanted to choose which mobile network to use.

Earlier this week Apple said a planned update would leave the device "permanently inoperable".

Thousands of iPhone owners hacked their expensive gadget in order to unlock it for use with other mobile carriers and to run a host of unsupported programs.

There are also reports of the update causing issues with unaltered iPhones.

On Monday Apple issued a statement in which it said many of the unauthorised iPhone unlocking programs caused "irreparable damage" to the device's software.

The company said this would "likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed".

That warning has now proved correct as many owners are reporting their phones no longer work following installation of the update.

You can read the rest of the story here…

I happened upon this story today, on the BBC website, and started to ask myself some questions…

First - do you think Apple went out of their way to make sure that “hacked” iPhones were deliberately locked? Second, and more important – why? In fact, this why is a multi-part why. Why did they stop people from installing 3^rd party apps in the first place? Why did they lock people into just the one network? And why on earth, did they not make the thing 3g capable? Oh, and why would they deliberately lock down your device?

Obviously the answer to all the why questions is Money. They stand to make a whole hell of a lot more by tying people into just one network operator – after all, the network operator in question will have offered a massive incentive for Apple to place all their business there. This is one desirable device (despite the locking, the no 3^rd party apps, and the 3g issue) – in fact, I’d go so far as to say that for many people, it’s a must-have device.

I’m pretty convinced I can’t answer the second why. After all, Palm (until recent times), grew huge on the promise of programming extra, un-thought of applications for their pda’s. So why have Apple gone all exclusive on us? According to the specs, this thing is running a cut down version of MacOS X, which is not a completely incompetent OS, running more than one piece of 3^rd party software – Microsoft Office, anyone? I mean, that’s 3^rd party for a Mac (we wont go into the stupid new icons they use for it, though). I can’t actually find out what sort of processor the iPhone boasts, but let’s face it, it’s not going to be any kind of a slouch – the thing is designated an “entertainment” phone!! It’s specifically designed to run video and audio, and stream either over the airwaves (obviously this would be faster if they’d provide 3g). Soooo, getting back to the point (you know I digress, that’s why you read my blog!) the second why has to be all about money – and the applications they’ll be able to sell. Only – I can’t actually find any…

That hoary old third why – why did they not provide you with better than GPRS connectivity? Well, I just can’t answer this one. Laziness? Arrogance? Contempt for their customers? Take your pick. Rumour has it that the next version of the iPhone will, indeed, have rather faster connection speeds, but you’ve gotta wonder why, in this day and age, when devices all around us are boasting everything that the iPhone provides (and more!) they didn’t bother to put it in first time around. So, I was wrong - not money then...

Now, which shall we deal with first? Question 1, did they do it deliberately? Or question 2, the final why – why would they do it? Let’s not change the habits of a life-time, we’ll answer the final why. This one must definitely come down to bloody-mindedness. You can just hear the conversation between Steve Jobs and one of his underlings.

SJ: What? People have already managed to hack the iPhone? I thought we made it un-hackable! After all, we’re brilliant! The iPhone is 5 years ahead of its time!

U: Well, we thought it was, but you know, there are some evil people out there, determined to take us down.

SJ: OK – here’s what we’ll do. We’ll release an “update”. It’ll check for signs of hacking, and it’ll make the device explode, killing everyone within a 10 foot radius!

U: Um… Sir… You can’t do that. I think it might be classed as murder.

SJ: Explode - blowing off a hand?

U: Er… I think we’d be looking at deliberate maiming.

SJ: OK – I’ve got it. We’ll lock up the phone! They wont be able to use it any more, and they’ll have to buy a new one. Loadsa-money!!

U: Oh, genius, sir! That’ll bring the rest into line.

So you can see that the third why can be answered by money too!

This leaves us with only one question to answer – did they do it deliberately? I’m not going answer that one, because I don’t know (and anyway, I’m pretty sure it’d come under the heading of libel if I were to answer in the affirmative). I will, however, point out that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are not quite as different as they’d love you to believe.