Shocker: Hack already available for iPhone update

San Francisco (CA) - Apple updated the iPhone and iPod Touch during last week’s Macworld Expo, and already both devices have been hacked to allow users to run unauthorized programs.

An iPhone-centric blog called iPhone Atlas shows a recently updated iPhone running an illegitimate third-party application. However, it requires the device to be physically modified. Given Apple’s usually timely responses to new hacks, this discovery may not even be such a huge deal.

Hacks of the iPhone have been rampant since its debut last summer, mainly because of the challenge of breaking through a notoriously restricted device.

However, Apple announced late last year that it will soon allow third-party programmers to create their own iPhone applications. Apple will release the official SDK (software development kit) for the iPhone next month.

"I think the relevance of the iPhone hacks decreases with every passing day. And that’s been the case since Apple has announced there would be a way for third-party developers to access the iPhone," said editorial director of Macworld Jason Snell in an Information Week article.