When iPhone become available in US tech geeks have been messing with its insides, trying to figure out how to unlock iPhone for use on networks other than AT&T’s.

Since last Monday, Apple officials have been warning iPhone owners that using unlocking software could cause the phone to become “permanently inoperable when future software update is installed.

On Friday the web was filled with complaints from people who had installed the latest update, their iPhone hacked updates were missing or even worse their phones froze up.

Jennifer Bowcock, an Apple spokeswoman, said that when people went to update their software with their computer through iTunes, a warning appeared on the computer screen. It was clear that any unauthorized modifications to the iPhone software violated the agreement that people entered into when they bought the phone.

Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said the company wanted to maintain control over the iPhone’s functions to protect carrier networks and to make sure the phone was not damaged.

Brian Lam, editor of Gizmodo, a blog devoted to gadgets, was in other opinion. He stated that disabling someone’s phone, instead of just relocking it and to wipe out the apps, is uncharacteristically evil. It seems like Apple has gone way too far.

It is hard to draw a straight line are these actions for making money or protecting the product. At least it seems that the phenomena of Apple and iPhone has started to fade gradually after so called iPhone era.