1 in 6 iPhones cracked

October 24, 2007 |

1 in 6 iPhones cracked Apple have announced that one in six iPhones sold (that’s over a quarter of a million handsets) has been cracked to allow connection to networks other than AT&T, and that’s just counting SIM hacks. Including software modifications that allow the use of unauthorized software the number is thought to be twice that.

These findings, collected by the revolutionary technique of comparing how many iPhones have been sold to the number connected to AT&T (and summarized nicely by Gizmodo) have surprised a lot of people. These tender souls are apparently unaware that after spending several hundred dollars on a shiny new toy, a person wants to feel like they actually own the thing. The concept of paying Apple for the privilege of doing exactly what they’re told fails to appeal to many, especially the tech-conscious market targeted by the iPhone.

Will the fact that more people have cracked iPhones than currently live in Samoa cause Apple to start listening to user demand? Unlikely. For a long time Apple was favored as the voice of the independent and original computer user in the face of the monolithic Microsoft (at least by Apple users). It seems that Apple have finally discovered why big companies behave like that (to make embarrassing amounts of money), and with their “Do what you’re told and connect when we tell you” attitude the process of becoming that which you once hated is well underway. With AT&T profits surging and Apple doubtless receiving some of those benefits it’s unlikely the iPhone will be legally opened up anytime soon.

The result is the same arms race we’ve seen ever since gray imports of Super Nintendo consoles - a technological battle between the crackers and the company where the only casualties are the customers, who end up paying both sides for daring to customize their own possessions. Rabid Apple fanboys contemptuously declare that a bricked iPhone is your own fault for not doing what your glorious Apple overlords tell you; wannabe leet smash-the-system posters scroll through the wikipedia entry for 1984, desperately trying to find a new way to compare Apple to Big Brother (there’s no ‘S’ in Apple, so they can’t use their absolutely hilarious Micro$oft burn).

Vast amounts of time are wasted by everyone involved, but it’s all market saturation and popularity for the makers. Remember: even if you cracked it and now connect to a non-profit libertine collective, somebody still paid Apple for it first.