They said it and it happened, sort of. A few days ago, Apple said that unlocking your iPhone could make it inoperable after future updates. Well, an update is here and many unlocked iPhone aren’t unlocked anymore. The latest update, 1.1.1, will probably not brick your phone, like some people claimed it would. But it will definitely make it an all AT&T device.

You can restore your iPhone to a 1.0.2 version but you won’t be able to use it fully. But then again, it’s probably just a matter of time before someone figures out a way to either unlock the new software or properly restore it to an earlier version. No one knows when or if it’ll happen but the cracker community rarely fails.

The smart option for iPhone unlockers would be to act proactive and just not upgrade. I mean, at least Apple was nice enough to warn you; take the hint and wait for reports before you update. But why did Apple semi-brick these unlocked iPhones? Was it intentional? As I see it, they either knew that the iPhones would be relocked, or they knew there was a possibility they might. But that’s not important now.

What matters is that they actually warned iPhone unlockers before they released the update, giving them a heads up. By doing so, a lot of people could avoid reverting their iPhones back to an AT&T-only state and I think we should be thankful for that. Think about it for a while. What other company would be nice enough to warn agreement violators before they release a potentially dangerous update?