Apple voiding warranties and blacklisting any unlocked iPhones with third-party apps

Well, we can’t say we weren’t surprised, but it does seem a little excessive to straight-out blacklist any and all iPhones that come in for service brandishing an unlocked GSM radio and/or native third-party applications.

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is supposed to be neutral on third-party iPhone applications, but they might just take offense to seeing an iPhone working on T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s network. One iPhone owner took his less than two-week-old iPhone in for service of his green-tinted camera issue, only to find out that the boys at Apple refused to provide any service. He was also told that his third-party-app-installed, unlocked iPhone would be blacklisted from any future repairs or returns.

The good news is that he was allowed to pay a 10% restocking fee to return the iPhone. The bad news is that all you iPhone hackers out there (are there any non-iPhone hackers out there anymore?) will want to do a complete restore on your iPhone before letting those Apple “geniuses” get their quasi-informed hands on your precious gadget.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]