A lot of buzz today around Apple’s announcement that a future update may cause “irreparable damage” to the device.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t much about hardware (definitely not devices), but I find it incredibly unlikely that a software hack of any kind can permanently damage a device. Maybe Apple won’t do it for you, but there has to be a way to wipe your device back to the its factory software/firmware.  I’m sure it’s something that Apple engineers did all the time while developing the iPhone.

So is Apple bluffing?

I don’t blame them for it (I’m sure they’ll make more from their cut of AT&T’s monthly fee than from the device itself).  But can you imagine the level of the screaming if Microsoft did something like this?  As far as I know, unlocked Xboxes still work…

Update: Ahhh, the drama continues.  The incredibly insubordinate iPhone Dev Team has smacked down Apple, and is releasing a fix to revert the iPhone back to its original state.  We all knew it wasn’t that hard.  The only question is whether Apple will try to take these guys down…