22 November 2008
Software patch renders iPhones useless
12 October 2007
By Dan Satherley
Sellers of parallel imported iPhones are warning buyers not to install Apple’s software patches because doing so could stop the devices from working.
In order to work in New Zealand, iPhones need to be “cracked” with unofficial software downloaded from the internet.
Alternatively, the phone can have a chip installed that fools it into thinking it is accessing the approved AT&T network in the United States.
Digi Imports, a parallel importer based on Queen St, has been selling software-cracked iPhones for about a month.
Manager Joe Jurji says: “We always advise our customers not to upgrade the software.”
Apple’s latest patch for the iPhone, called “1.1.1”, renders cracked iPhones useless, a process known as “bricking”.
Patches are often issued by manufacturers to prevent software being infected with viruses.
Unpatched iPhones run a greater risk of infection than those whose software is kept up to date.
Jurji says if their customers install the patch, they should bring the phone back so they can undo the changes.
“Even if they upgrade the software by mistake, we can always degrade the software and unlock it again,” he says.
Neither Apple nor Vodafone, the network most commonly accessed by cracked iPhones, offer any support to owners having problems with their parallel imported phones.
James MacAvoy, a company director, bought an iPhone two weeks ago through Tosh Computers, a Tauranga-based parallel importer.
He used a program named SimUnlock to access Vodafone’s network, and says he hasn’t had any problems
with the software.
“It’s really reliable, there’s no crashing – I’m not at all worried,” he says.
iPhones which have been software-unlocked are also able to host third-party applications, says MacAvoy.
“If you install the patch you lose features.
The good thing is with an unlocked phone you get all the extra features.
You’ve got more to lose.”
MacAvoy paid about $900 for his iPhone, including shipping.
“If you look at the cost of an iPod, and you look at the cost of a phone – it’s absolutely worth it,” he says.
Jurji says the latest patchwon’t work forever, and buyers will soon be able to install itwithout fear of “bricking” their
phone.
“There’s always hackers, let’s put it that way.
“When they upgrade the software there’s always going to be software to unlock it as well.”
Fiona Martin, public relations manager for Apple Computer Australia, says: “At the end of the day, the iPhone is not supported in New Zealand.”
