Apple: 'Unlocking' software damages iPhone

USA TODAY, September, 2007 by Jefferson Graham

Apple put out a consumer warning Monday: Buy an "unlocked" iPhone at your own peril.

In the USA, most cellphones are sold "locked," meaning a phone is tied to the carrier that supplied it. Apple's combination iPod, cellphone and Internet device works exclusively with AT&T.

Some early buyers have complained about AT&T's data network; others, about spotty cell coverage. On the other hand, Apple fans outside the USA have been hard pressed to land an iPhone, which goes on sale in Great Britain in November, its first European sale.

After the iPhone's late June launch, a cottage industry sprang up at websites offering software to "unlock" the devices from AT&T -- effectively freeing them for use on other carriers.

On Monday, Apple issued a...