Based on early estimates, Apple has sold more than half a million iPhones up to the first weekend, the demand has been probably expected for the so called "God machine", however there are quite a few things iPhone can't do yet and there is the opportunity for all the geeks out there to get the iPhone to do what is not possible.
There have already been some blog reports of iPhone firmware hitting the internet so we are probably not too far away from seeing iPhone hacks popping up. Based on reports from Engadget, it looks like the iPhone's system restore image has already shown up online; it might be a while before anyone can de-construct this thing into meaningful though so far everything looks well encrypted so far.
More on iPhone hacks after the jump.
Just like we had people lining up for the iPhone as early as last Monday, it is safe to say that there will be someone out there trying hard to crack or hack in to iPhone's code to proclaim as the first to come out with an iPhone hack.
So let us see the potential areas where one can expect iPhone hacks or should we say unauthorized functions.
Folks at Porfolio.com have listed 9 possible iPhone hacks, I have picked six out of this list:
Multiple Carriers
Why go to AT&T when you’re a happy T-Mobile customer? Both AT&T and T-Mobile use the GSM network, and customers of those services have technically been able to use the same phones for years. Though the iPhone is designed to work just with AT&T, it might not take much tweaking to make the device equally flexible.
Other Music Formats
Apple has had a stranglehold on the iPod with its proprietary music format. The iPhone’s computer-like architecture will make it easier for tweakers to enable other formats to be heard.
GPS
Triangulation—using the distance between three cell-tower signals to find a phone’s location—makes this modification a given. Hackers could create a program to pinpoint your location and feed it to Google Maps to guide you to your destination.
Viruses
Not all hacks are to our benefit. The iPhone carries a version of Mac OS to run its features, and iPhone-specific viruses will almost assuredly be coming along for the ride. Like traditional computer viruses, they will likely work to make your files and information vulnerable to theft. The iPhone’s always-open WiFi connection makes this virtually inevitable.
Downloadable Music
You still need a computer to download music from the Apple Store. But by year’s end, unauthorized websites will let you download songs directly to the iPhone.
Multimedia Sharing
Apple is known for aggressively blocking file-sharing applications, but with the iPhone’s WiFi- and Mac-inspired infrastructure, hackers will have users passing goods back and forth like they have Microsoft’s swap-happy Zune media player.
Hardware
We have already seen that people have figured out how to take the iPhone apart so there are numerous possibilities on how this can be abused. Check this YouTube video for a step by step on how to disassemble an iPhone.
Conclusion:
So what do you think?? Let me know your predictions in the comments below. However, I am from the school of thought that we should leave it to Apple to provide us with those missing iPhone features in future firmware upgrades.
Update: Added Hardware modifications as another possibility to the existing list of possible iPhone hacks and have also changed the subject line accordingly
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