Apple on iPhone Unlocking: Just Say No

Apple has a warning to folks using third-party software to unlock their iPhones: kiss your warranties goodbye.

As software-only solutions for unlocking Apple’s iPhone began to emerge earlier this month, industry watchers have wondered what Cupertino’s official stance on untethering the devices from Apple’s nationwide-exclusive mobile partners might be. When Apple announced its partnership with O2 to bring iPhones to the UK, the world got a taste of it when, in response to a reporters’ question, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Apple would fight back against hacks that unlocked the iPhone, even as he acknowledged it meant Apple engaging in a cat-and-mouse exercise to keep up with hackers.

Now, as the company prepares to release an iPhone update which (among other things) enables new features—including the much-touted iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store—the company has issued a terse statement drawing a line in the sand: users who unlock their iPhones void their warranties, and may wind up turning their precious devices into inoperable bricks. The statement issued today reads as follows:

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 24 — Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which willlikely 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 (http://www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installingunauthorized 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.

iPhone unlockers can’t say they haven’t been warned.