The 1.1.2 firmware update for the iPhone was meant to block hackers from jailbreaking the device. However, almost instantly, this update was hacked as well. Apple's 1.1.2 update for the iPhone patched a flaw in the way its OS X handles TIFF image processing. The bug was the way hackers gained access to the iPhone after the 1.1.1 update, but apparently they found another way. The new firmware also wiped out third-party applications just like previous updates.

Apple said it will open up its iPhone for software developers early next year, as previously rumored. Until then, "It's a cat-and-mouse game," said Jobs in October. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in." Good luck with that.

In addition to attempting to block hackers, Apple's 1.1.2 update actually brings some real improvements: it adds international language and network support to the iPhone (in time for the UK and Germany launches), and the much-desired ability to both add and edit calendar events to the iPod touch.

Unlocking the iPhone may be good for customers who aren't going to be bossed around by Apple, but it hurts both Apple's and AT&T's businesses. Apple does not get its cut from AT&T if the device is not activated in their network, whereas AT&T can't "enslave" yet another customer in its service plans. Late October, Apple acknowledged that around 250,000 of its iPhones were unlocked, out of the 1.4 million iPhones sold until then, which amounts to 17 percent, or about one in six.

Earlier this month, Lev Grossman picked the iPhone as "Invention of the Year" for Time magazine. People were already used to these goofy "inventions of the year" by Time magazine, as they picked last year YouTube.