Apple: Jailbreak and Kiss Your Warranty Goodbye

[Maxor127]

I don't see why people are bitching. It's common sense. Doesn't matter if it's legal or not, if you tamper with your phone, then you void your warranty. Same goes for any product. You can't even overclcok without voiding your warranty.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]Maxor127[/nom]I don't see why people are bitching. It's common sense. Doesn't matter if it's legal or not, if you tamper with your phone, then you void your warranty. Same goes for any product. You can't even overclcok without voiding your warranty.[/citation]

Except they aren't overclocking, they're just removing a software lock so that they can run other programs they want to run. If Dell only allowed you to run Microsoft software and you circumvented it to put Word Perfect on it, that should not void the hardware warranty in any way.

 

[twu]

Whatever! If I decided to use it, I would put it on a 20LB magnet for a few hours. How do they know someone jail break it.

 

[jellico]

The warranty on most electronic products is anywhere from 90 days to 1 year. It is a limited warranty which, in Apple's case, means that if they can't find a way to blame the customer then they'll consider fixing or replacing it. So really, you're not losing that much by jailbreaking your iPhone.

 

[bourgeoisdude]

"Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience."

Stop there. Forget anything else for a moment and listen to how profoundly stupid this response is. *ANY* company that claims that it knows what customers want when it goes directly against what customers are actually doing means...they don't know (or give a sh!t) about what their customers want.

I mean...do they really think someone is forcing these people to jaibreak their phone just to "severely degrade" their experience? Or do they think people are intentionally "degrading" their experience?

Maybe Apple really is as stupid as we are making them out to be.

 

[cadder]

Somebody will take Apple to court and convince them of their error.

 

[zaznet]

Apple should provide two new apps via the app marketplace. A jailbreak app that allows you to install any apps you want (you agree to void the warranty when you install it) and a carrier unlock app so you can switch out from AT&T. They could even charge $1.99 for each app and know exactly which phones were jail broken and then deny them software updates later.

Creating and providing these apps, even for a fee will help them secure the iPhone under the DMCA because there is an option that does not require third party hacks to provide what the Library of Congress ruled was necessary for the consumer.

They won't do this though because Apple never admits defeat or being wrong.

 

[Ragnar-Kon]

I am gonna get marked way down for this, but I actually agree with Apple on this call. If they designed a product to be used in a particular way, and if the customer uses it in a way that was never intended by Apple, then why should Apple spend all the time and money supporting that customer?
I wouldn't, I don't think Dell, or HP, or any other hardware tech company would.

 

[GenKhan2]

I own a 3G from Apple. First cell phone I've ever owned. I bought it because at the time it was considered the best. Without my jailbreak (I don't need an unlock) the phone would catagorically be terrible. Indeed, Apple has convinced me to leave the Apple ecosystem entirely and permanently. I'll be switching to Android or Win7 when my contract is up.

 

[zaznet]

[citation][nom]beayn[/nom]If Dell only allowed you to run Microsoft software and you circumvented it to put Word Perfect on it.[/citation]

And Dell would NOT support your Word Perfect even if they offered to support Microsoft Office.

Unlocking the phone requires some key changes to the OS even though they are small in proportion to the OS. These changes allow for many other changes to be made through other software Apple would never have allowed. Since their support is built around the expected configuration options, these changes are not something Apple could support.

I do agree that the software changes shouldn't break the hardware (thus should not void a hardware covered issue) but that's a legal fight Apple hasn't had to win in court yet. Apple can easily resist supporting a hardware problem due to incorrect software on the basis that it can't prove it is a hardware problem causing the issue/symptoms since it has never tested the jailbreak OS and other software the user has installed. It may be slippery but it is an argument that has some validity to it.

 

[Guest]

What you guys don't realize is that you can un-jailbreak the phone. My jailbroken iPod Touch decided to stop using its wireless chip, so I simply restored it in itunes and took it back to the Apple Store. No hassle, they just gave me a new one.

The only people this new regulation is screwing is the iPhone unlockers, as their change is permanent from what I've heard.

 

[djsting]

[citation][nom]Ragnar-Kon[/nom]I am gonna get marked way down for this, but I actually agree with Apple on this call. If they designed a product to be used in a particular way, and if the customer uses it in a way that was never intended by Apple, then why should Apple spend all the time and money supporting that customer?I wouldn't, I don't think Dell, or HP, or any other hardware tech company would.[/citation]


Actually, here is how companies like Dell, HP, and Lenovo deal with issues like this. In the name of full disclosure, I used to be a Dell Tech. I currently support all the hardware at a school district, so I deal with all 3 companies I've mentioned.

So to my point, if you buy a computer with say XP Home. You decide you want to buy a retail copy of Windows 7. A few weeks later you discover you have faulty RAM. These companies will replace said RAM as it really is not affected by the OS. Same thing for hard drives, motherboards, ETC...

It's a slightly different story for say the video card where drivers can be a problem. However, if you can still prove it's the hardware and not software conflict, they will replace the hardware.

Granted on an Iphone, it may be a little harder to prove hardware VS software. Still, Apple should warranty the hardware.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]zaznet[/nom]And Dell would NOT support your Word Perfect even if they offered to support Microsoft Office.Unlocking the phone requires some key changes to the OS even though they are small in proportion to the OS. These changes allow for many other changes to be made through other software Apple would never have allowed. Since their support is built around the expected configuration options, these changes are not something Apple could support.I do agree that the software changes shouldn't break the hardware (thus should not void a hardware covered issue) but that's a legal fight Apple hasn't had to win in court yet. Apple can easily resist supporting a hardware problem due to incorrect software on the basis that it can't prove it is a hardware problem causing the issue/symptoms since it has never tested the jailbreak OS and other software the user has installed. It may be slippery but it is an argument that has some validity to it.[/citation]

I wouldn't expect them to support software that was installed on a jailbroken phone, just the hardware.

But, unfortunately it's true what you said, they can just say it's software causing the problem and get out of the hardware part of the warranty. Still, they need to open up their systems eventually, it will only mean increased business.

 

[slm_casper]

That violates the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. I hope someone takes legal action against Apple.

 

[dextermat]

What warranty except the fact that you guaranty denie there a problem with the phone

 

[T-Bone]

I still don't understand how it was "illegal" to jailbreak the phone to begin with?

 

[zaznet]

[citation][nom]T-Bone[/nom]I still don't understand how it was "illegal" to jailbreak the phone to begin with?[/citation]

The DMCA (US Law - Digital Millennium Copyright Act) has a stipulation that makes it illegal to circumvent copy protections on any device. It matters now how effective those protections are, just that they exist.

This part of the DMCA has been under a lot of fire as it also prevents security researchers from finding and helping plug vulnerabilities in all sorts of software. The most notable and intended impact was to make the DeCSS (DVD decryption) code illegal to share.

 

[T-Bone]

[citation][nom]zaznet[/nom]The DMCA (US Law - Digital Millennium Copyright Act) has a stipulation that makes it illegal to circumvent copy protections on any device. It matters now how effective those protections are, just that they exist.This part of the DMCA has been under a lot of fire as it also prevents security researchers from finding and helping plug vulnerabilities in all sorts of software. The most notable and intended impact was to make the DeCSS (DVD decryption) code illegal to share.[/citation]

But "jailbreaking" isn't about circumventing copy protection: "it is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to run third-party unsigned code on their devices by unlocking the operating system and allowing the user root access."

Still unclear to me; unless jailbreaking ALSO makes it possible to illegally copy copy-protected media, I see no reason why it would have been illegal in the first place. If it does allow this, then it's quite stupid for the court to have ruled in favor.

I loathe Steve Jobs & immensely dislike Apple; however, I think it 100% right for Apple to void the warranty on jailbroken devices. The warranty should cover what Apple sold you and a jail-broken device is NOT what Apple sold you.

 

[zaznet]

To jail break these devices someone had to break the protections built into the original software. That act itself was illegal. Distributing the software used to circumvent the Apple protections was also illegal. Until the Library of Congress decided that it was necessary to allow the consumer "fair use" of their device.

Now such actions are not banned by the DMCA through these exclusions. Good news for us users overall but even better news for the groups who break these things for us.

 

[T-Bone]

Well, I'll never buy one but I still think it's OK for Apple not to warranty jail-broken devices. While it may not be illegal to jail-break, it may be against the terms of use (etc.)