Bad news, kiddies. Steve thinks we’re having too much fun with his expensive toy, and henceforth has abolished the practice of iPhone unlocking. Stop it. Just stop. You know it’s wrong, and puts wrinkles in Steve’s mock turtlenecks. This bombshell was just dropped from the belly of the mothership…
Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.
So there you have it, folks. Unlock your iPhone, void your warranty. This is absurd, and I half wonder if it’s merely a deliberate effort by Apple to back out of their warranty obligations.
You asked for it. You got it. I listened to reader requests for a fully iPhone optimized layout. Now when you visit my site from your iPhone, instead of encountering the standard layout, you will be redirected to an iPhone formatted likeness. No more pinching or side scrolling.
So visit the blog that readers call “Stupendous”…“Wonderfully entertaining”…“Informative”. Then, after you’ve been to that site, come to theiphoneblog.com, cause…it’s pretty good too.
In podcast number five, we discuss the crazy amount of news from the previous two weeks. The main topics are sales volume, iPhone in Europe, ringtones, iTunes and firmware updates, GUI unlocking and the risk it brings, and 3G iPhone rumors. And, as always, we discuss some of the best bits from the community.
The Marware Sidewinder iPhone Holster ($24.95) is a great holster just by the standards of regular holsters, but it offers a couple of neat tricks you won’t see elsewhere - hence the “sidewinder.” Read on for our full review - including a coupon good for 30% off on the Marware holster, good this week only.
““Song of the Day” will offer hand-picked songs from top artists including Bob Dylan, Joss Stone, Dave Matthews, Bebel Gilberto, John Mayer, KT Tunstall, John Legend, Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell, Keith Urban and Paul McCartney plus great music from up-and-coming artists such as Sia, Band of Horses, Hilary McRae, Frederico Aubele and Sara Bareilles.”
The downloads are given away by means of cards that you get when you go to Starbucks and buy coffee, which you can then redeem for the free song of the day. Supplies are limited — the deal begins “each morning and while supplies last,” so get up and grab some coffee before you, uh, go to Starbucks for your coffee.
According to an article in ComputerWorld, the iPhone handily beat other smartphones (printable version) in almost all of the usability categories. The iphone competed against the HTC Touch (Windows Mobile) and the Nokia N95 (S60 Symbian) in usability tests performed by Texas-based Perceptive Sciences. Their test group was with ten people that had never used any of the three phones, so it’s unfortunately a fairly small sample size. The article title gives the net result away, but read on for the highlights from their test.
According to an exclusive by macapper.com, picture messaging and AIM could be in the works with the so-close-you-could-stab-it 1.1.1 update. I’ll grant that it could just as easily be a screw-up by AT&T, or maybe he’s got his iPhone on some non-iPhone plan and just temporarily forgot about it. Maybe, though, it’s the real deal. You never know.
Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodaphone, is “absolutely” confident that they’ll get a second chance to distribute the iPhone somewhere in the world. Anywhere, really. He’s still bullish on the 3G iPhone. By the time Apple comes out with one, I’m not sure what major markets will be left for a contract. Asia maybe?
You guys are a tough crowd to please. Last week’s installment received as much welcome as Michael Moore attending a Republican convention. Some of you even criticized my gallery for being “too feminine”, which left me questioning my sexuality and displaying overcompensating male machismo behavior. Friends and family began wondering why I suddenly started smoking cigars and spoke in a deep faux masculine voice. I hope you’re proud of yourselves!
So, this week I bow to your requests and offer up these, well, less effeminate wallpapers. Hope you enjoy them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch Nascar racing and wear my pants halfway down my ass.
Woot.com mocks Steve Jobs’ open letter to early adopters. It seems they were selling Zunes at $149, then dropped the price to $129, and they got three angry emails. So, they figured that they’d write mock open letter, get a price cut, and get mentioned on some blogs. And it’s worked, since here we are. After the break is the full content of their open letter, preserved since I can’t find a permanent link to the page. It’s witty and cutting, as you might notice in the quick quote posted below:
“If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product. I mean, why should you? Truth is, you don’t really need any of this junk. We’re afraid you’ll catch on to that fact and overpaid frauds like me will have to go back into fields like telemarketing and burrito construction. Fortunately, most of you continue to languish in a consumerist stupor, wallets spread wide for us to plunder as we please.”
In other news, the Zune guy got his 3rd Zune tattoo. He gets progressively happier with each tattoo; with the first tattoo he looked positively bewildered.
Update: Zune guy’s name is Steven Smith. If I just call him Zune guy, he’s just as soulless as the company that his tattoos embody. But there’s a person behind those tattoos. Sure, he’s totally confused. The Zune sucks reportedly sucks pretty bad. Maybe Zune 2.0 won’t suck? No, unfortunately — by the time Microsoft comes out with a decent Zune, all the logos and slogans he’s currently got inked on him will be obsolete.
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
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