So Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has finally come out with a statement which says this simply: “Apple 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. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (http://www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.” You know what that means. You suckers who buy us first, paid $200 extra, and now, if you try to do anything extra with it, well, bad luck.

Reuters: There are a number of unlocking software programs on the Internet, and, at least two of them, iUnlock and Anysim, can cause the iPhone to stop working once its software is updated, Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of worldwide product marketing said. “There may be others, but we don’t know all of them,” he said.