Apple: Don't Unlock the iPhone

6:00 PM -- Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is warning users who "unlock" their iPhones in a bid to use it with carriers other than AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) that they could damage the software and void their warranty in the process.

Apple says it has discovered that "many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed." A WiFi iTunes update is coming next week, the firm notes.

"Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty," Apple continues. "The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty."So, basically, you're screwed if you bust your iPhone this way.

Of course, if the speculation is correct, and Apple and AT&T both stand to make a pretty penny from revenue-sharing deals around the iPhone, then it is also not in their interests having users freely able to move to another carrier. Wot, me, cynical? (See Peeling Back Apple's iPhone Revenue.)— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung