Apple Issues Warning on Hacked iPhones - Newser Apple announced today that the $600, er $400, IPhones which users have hacked to work on cell networks other than AT&T will be destroyed by an upcoming software update. The update will also flag the phones as being ineligible for warranty service.
Let me just say one thing about cellphones - It's time Americans started demanding the ability to change networks as easily as popping in a new chip. The stranglehold of multi-year contracts that cellular carriers have us all locked into is just plain wrong. Instead of punishing their best customers, Apple should be taken to task for their part in perpetuating this madness. People have a right to choose the device and carrier we want, and to change their minds. (See Stephen Levy's article on this in Newsweek - published two weeks after this post.)
One of my friends (a Mac junkie from way back) recently described Macs as the choice of "a young hip generation." I nearly choked laughing. Those are same unique and free hipsters who all rushed out to cover themselves with tribal tattoos and pierce their tounges in the 90's - "I want to be a unique individual just like everybody else." Don't get me wrong, Macs are incredibly well designed computers, and the IPhone is a very cool gadget. But the idea that you are somehow "free" or more creative because you let Apple package, and therefore control every aspect of your life is ridiculous.
Apple's marketing is undeniably brilliant, but totally at odds with their practices in the marketplace. While Microsoft is controlling in the market, Apple is hugely controlling on its users systems. ITunes won't let you play ITunes downloads anywhere except in their software and on their devices. While they are busy strangling their users, Steve Jobs announces "He's opposed to Digital Right Management." This is classic Orwellian double speak, crafted to bolster their carefully constructed image of freedom and creativity.
I've been in the midst of a month long effort to undo the file system carnage that ITunes has done to my carefully constructed music library. I plan to move to an open source system. Though the Ipod is a really cool gadget, my next media player will not be an Apple one. The software roadblocks Apple puts up to keep you locked into slavery to them are amazing.
When will these Apple crazed robots stop drinking the cool aid?
IPhone, no thanks!
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