Shame on Apple
This “if you unlocked your iPhone you’ll be bricked” announcement is appalling and in my opinion exceeds all of the [many] recent stumbles. Apple is admitting that there is code out there that can ruin their $400 hardware. Way to let everyone with a vendetta against Apple know the best attack vector for an iPhone virus. iTunes could easily be written to verify the firmware before applying any updates (that’s what hash functions are handy for, such as what they did in the iPod database format).
Despite whatever Apple says this is just a way to make sure they continue to get their vig from the wireless carriers they sold their soul to. Shame on you Apple. Shame on you.