September 20th, 2007
Apple blacklisting hacked iPhones?
I received the following email from a colleague:
Speaking of hacks, Today I went into an Apple store with a less than two week old iPhone that had the green tint camera problem.
Because it had been “hacked” with some 3rd party apps and was running T-Mobile they refused to service it, said the warranty was voided and “blacklisted” the phone against future service, or return!
Only after asking for the manager and having several conversations with her, did they finally allow me to return it, but charged me a 10% restocking fee…
Pretty Scary! Didn’t Steve and Woz get their start in college by selling a device that would “hack” pay phones and give people free long distance?
So while he eventually got Apple to return the iPhone (after paying the restocking fee, that is), the lesson here is to do a restore of your iPhone and re-install the factory AT&T SIM before bringing into an Apple Store for service. That’s the beauty of software-only hacks, after all!
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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