October 15th, 2007
Time for Apple to get its act together over the iPhone
I have to agree with Alex Eckelberry (president of Sunbelt Software) on this one:
Following on my previous rant, iPhone Elite (a development group that’s spun off of the unofficial “iPhone Dev Team”) has posted instructions on how to unbrick an iPhone (via InfiniteLoop).
While it’s certainly doable for anyone with a modicum of technical expertise (and written for that audience), one can only wonder about average users (for whom it could be argued that Jean François Champollion had an easier time deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics).
…
This is ludicrous. Apple, please figure out a way, tacitly or explicitly, to unlock the damned phone so people can get on with things — and please stop bricking phones. Your contract with AT&T is not nearly as important as your goodwill and market opportunity.
Alex is spot on here. Now that there are documented way to unbrick iBricks, this whole line about the unlocking process causing damage to the hardware comes off as a total load. Sure, people need to take responsibility for altering their device, but I doubt that we’d be seeing this level of apathy if it was Microsoft bricking devices. From where I’m sitting, the whole iBricking fiasco sounds both deliberate and malicious and it’s time for Apple to draw a line under the issue and move on. All this bricking and unfriendliness to third-party apps just doesn’t make long-term sense.
Is it customers that matter or protecting revenue streams?
Thoughts?
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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