IPhone owners who have unlocked their handsets so they could use carriers other than AT&T Inc may end up with a phone that does not work after the company's next software update, Apple Inc warned.
Since the iPhone debuted in June, hackers have posted a number of methods online to make it possible to use the iPhone on cellular networks other than AT&T, which is the exclusive official carrier for the iPhone.
Apple executives say they have discovered that many of those unauthorized unlocking programs cause some software damage to iPhones.
Now, a software update that Apple plans to issue later this week that will add features such as accessibility to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store may end up making the touch-screen cell phone completely inoperable if it has been hacked into.
"This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview on Monday. "It's unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for ... those consequences."
Schiller said he did not know how many iPhones are operating on different carriers.
The programs -- including several that can be downloaded for free, and at least one that costs US$25 -- appear to be particularly popular with consumers in Europe. Many Europeans have bought iPhones in the US, but Apple will not be selling them or providing service for them in Europe until November.
John McLaughlin of Uniquephones.com, in Northern Ireland, has developed unlocking software, but his Belfast-based company has not sold or distributed it. He called Apple's warning "something of a scare tactic."
Anyone who has already unlocked their phone could get it back in working condition, he said.
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