Is Apple Teasing Us with Firmware Updates?

I’m sure you heard the recent calamity as soon as screenshots of a new iPhone Firmware surfaced (1.1.3 for those who are counting), which seem oddly accurate. But how could such a leak get through undetected for so long? Apple’s playing a game of intimidation with the hacking community.

To give a brief rundown, 1.1.3 looks to be jam packed with updates, such as a pseudo GPS courtesy of Google Maps Locate Me, multi-ecipient messaging, and home screen rearranging. What’s even funnier is Apple taking a tip from the developer community by implementing an already existing hack that allows for multiple versions of the home screen, which can be scrolled across, to exist.

There’s a bit more, which you can check out at arstechnica.

As great as this Firmware upgrade is, Apple has taken the liberty of once again breaking unlocks and 3rd party apps, but I can’t help but be suspicious: how could a working (as it appears, this could be Beta software in testing) Firmware update be released to a select few, paraded on numerous blogs, and dissected for our enjoyment?

It could be Apple’s chance of laughing in the faces of all the hackers who have continually broken each subsequent Firmware update from Apple. By “releasing” it before the masses get it, it’s ensured that what’s behind this new upgrade will be released in a very short time, and the news that unlocks and jailbreaks are rendered useless is somewhat depressing.

Or is it just an appetizer to get us ready for what lies ahead at Macworld and February when a real SDK arrives?

Either way, I feel as if Apple is leading up to something more with this Firmware upgrade, even more so that they haven’t taken out the legal hammer and unleashed takedown notices on a mass scale.

They’ve been notorious for covering these leaks, the most recent dated before the latest iPod event in which a video showing the new iPod Nano interface was taken down across many rumor sites. Even spy pics of the new Nano were taken out with Ninja like precision.

But Apple is in a totally different boat with the iPhone; everyone is expecting new features, whether it be from 3rd party developers or Apple in a race to please consumers, which the latter can do while hitting two birds with one stone. Releasing a Firmware upgrade early and having it dissected for all to see is beneficial for Apple: intimidate the hacking community and win back consumers who have gone the unofficial route for expansion.