According to t3.co.uk, the UK version of the iPhone will be shipping with firmware version 1.1.2 which will fix the tiff exploit in 1.1.1 that allowed developers to jailbreak the iPhone to install custom applications. This firmware update should be making its way around the world soon. The firmware update also has support for more languages and alphabets in the keyboard. While Apple may be hoping users will update their iPhone, a good number of them won’t be. Updates are voluntary. Although you’ll be hounded to update, you’re not required to do so.
The current tiff exploit took some time to find and with the new update, the iPhone will most likely be sealed for good. iPhones across the world will be all exactly alike again until Apple launches their third party applications sometime in 2008 following the SDK release in February. A majority of people will simply upgrade who haven’t hacked their iPhones, but I urge you think twice about it. Saying no to the update will show your support for the development community. Apple began with the mindset that the users and the developers should be at the heart of the OS. This appears to have changed, at least for now, for the iPhone. Even if you don’t want to upgrade out of fear something might happen to your phone or simply want to stick with Apple’s plan, find someone with a hacked iPhone and talk to them about it. A lot of great work has been done and I personally would hate to see it thrown aside.
So keep checking your software updates and read them carefully to make sure you get the ones you want and say no to the ones you don’t. It’s your phone and you have a choice.
