Apple update: iBricks for modified iPhones

Apple’s threats were not futile; the iPhone software update released on Thursday afternoon does block the modified devices, as the company warned it would. Users and hackers reported that the iPhones freed of AT&T ‘got bricked’ after the update was installed.

Before the software update commences, it displays a security message that reads, "Warning: Apple has discovered that some of the unauthorized unlocking programs available on the Internet may cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software. If you have modified your iPhone's software, applying this software update may result in your iPhone becoming permanently inoperable."

As the modified iPhones get successfully updated, they prompt the user to install ‘an unlocked and valid SIM card.’ Reportedly, emergency calls can still be made from the deactivated iPhones.

According to some, new SIM cards from AT&T or even the original SIM cards fail to work in iPhones that had been activated once and then unlocked from the network.

However, a group of hackers that was behind the first commercial unlock hack said that with an original activated AT&T SIM, the iPhone can be activated and used with no issues at all.

The group that calls itself iPhoneSIMFree posted a message on its website that reads, “Currently there is no way to jailbreak/reactivate the phone for use with a SIM card other than the original AT&T card.”

Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive said in London last week that it is a ‘cat and mouse’ game with the hackers. “People will try to break in, and it’s our job to stop them breaking in,” he said.

Mr. Jobs is right, serious hackers have been working to beat the software update ever since the warning was released and ardent fans will keep looking for ways to use their iPhones the way they want to.

This cat and mouse battle between a Computer Company and its technically-sound fans will probably continue forever, unless the company stops trying to limit the vast diversity of people to a single network.