Apple: "iPhone SIM unlockers will end up with iBricks"

Here at TUAW HQ (located on this occasion very much east of the Atlantic ocean), we've been receiving a flurry of tips about a certain press release from Cupertino folks about iPhone unlocking. The short of it? Apple's telling consumers that "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." For consumers everywhere, that's a daunting proposition if you've bitten the bullet and chosen to run one of the numerous unlocking applications out there.

The word on the street is that Apple, whilst looking for ways ensure customers did not brick their iPhones after a future software update (namely, the one including the iTunes WiFi Music Store), have simply chosen to take the somewhat easier route of stating "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.".

The press release also goes on to tell us that iPhone users can expect to receive the Software Upgrade this week, leaving people in the lurch until then to see whether this Doomsday-esque scenario plays out as Apple says. If you want to be on the safe side, you might try Erica's relocking procedure (still in the very early testing stages!).