On Wednesday, the iPhoneDevTeam announced a hack that allows users who have installed the 1.1.1 firmware update to revert their phones to 1.0.2, "jailbreak" it to install third-party programs, and then upgrade to 1.1.1 without "bricking" the phone. This hack won't work on phones that were bricked after installing 1.1.1, however.

Another team, the iPhoneSimFree group, announced Thursday that its latest software will "unbrick" phones that were disabled by the Apple update. This solution involves following the iPhoneDevTeam's technique for rolling the phone back to 1.0.2 and then installing the SimFree 1.6 software.

Apple Ready To Support Apps?

Meanwhile, Glenn Fleishman reported on Tidbits that Apple might be close to making an announcement on third-party development for the iPhone. What developers want, said Fleishman, is integration with Xcode, Apple's programming environment for OS X. "If Apple simply inserted an iPhone framework into Xcode, so that developers could work with tools they already had, with the limitations imposed on what the iPhone could do, you'd see applications released in minutes," he said.

Fleishman suggested that Apple would have some sort of application certification process, but that programs that don't access certain features might not need to be certified. For instance, Research In Motion certifies programs that access dialing features. Other phones sometimes restrict network access to Wi-Fi.

"Apple could pull a neat trick by allowing programs that want to access only Wi-Fi network features to operate in an unlimited fashion; if EDGE service is desired, then a program needs to be registered and certified, and be a good network customer . There could even being a revenue requirement or split to make those kinds of applications work in AT&T 's model," Fleishman wrote.

'A Moment for Apple To Seize'

Embracing third-party development is practically an imperative, Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, said in a telephone interview. "Apple almost has to embrace third-party developers. The demand is so strong, the behavior of developers almost forces them to do this," he said.

The perpetual cat-and-mouse game between Apple and hackers is a "big distraction from a real opportunity" for Apple, he said. With third-party development in place, "people will build cool stuff, which will further differentiate it from the clones that are coming onto market."

An iPhone that runs third-party apps has a chance to become the mobile Internet device of the future, Sterling said. "This is a real opportunity, a moment for Apple to seize," he said. Playing this card right will go far to make up for the mistake of the exclusive relationship with AT&T, he added. "If they fail to open it up as a development platform, this will be a second blunder."

Sterling noted that users and developers have "really responded to it very dramatically. People are hungry for this." The iPhone is the first device that "opens the door to the real potential of mobile. There's an imperative for Apple to embrace that momentum."