Paul has successfully upgraded his iPhone. This means he's been keeping his nose clean and avoiding all the mod chip hackery. But many were not so lucky, instead becoming recipients of Apple's latest product: iDoorstop.
When did modifying electronics become the latest threat to society? How long before the analogies to drug dealing and back alley dice games take hold? Do we need interventionist programs in our schools?
It is every futuristic science fiction novel come true. Mod chips for iPhones, XBOXs, Gameboys; we're living in The Matrix. But this ostracizing results from circumvention of closed systems. If sci-fi authors are correct, then the future will be a world of many and valuable closed-architectures.
Unfortunately, this contradicts recent trends on the Internet: RESTful interfaces, open APIs, simple sharing. And many Internet services derive their power from their openness.
The world increasingly seems to come down to this division between opened and closed. You might even be able to reframe history in these terms. Feudal Europe, for example, was about extreme closed-ness; kings hoarding everything of value. Then Communism happened and tried to open the treasure chest for everyone.
The hard part is drawing the line. Apple treads the same path with cell phones that they did with iTunes Music Store a few years ago. Record companies then, like cell phone providers today, were hunkered down in their trenches, developing insane copy-proof CD-ROM schemes. Apple gradually opened them up and this week saw a new milestone with Amazon's completely DRM-free store.
How far can Apple take cell phones? So far the answer is: no place, yet.