First-order effects

• Owners of unlocked iPhones face an immediate binary: relock their handset before applying the firmware update, or risk a permanently dead device with no warranty recourse.
• Apple reps have separately told outlets like iPhone Atlas that hacks — including third-party native apps, not just SIM unlocks — void the warranty, extending the threat beyond carrier unlocks.

Second-order effects

• The unlock community's response shifts from breaking locks to building reversibility: relock tools and how-to guides become the immediate deliverable, as TUAW's pre-update guide shows.
• AT&T's US exclusivity is defended without a single contract change — Apple enforces the carrier deal through the update channel, raising the effective cost of defection to the buyer rather than the carrier.

Third-order effects

• Apple establishes firmware updates as its primary control point for policing its platform — cheaper and faster than litigation — a pattern that frames every subsequent fight over jailbreaking and warranty terms, including the unconfirmed question raised earlier this month of whether hacked phones are blacklisted from service.
• The move pushes the unlock/jailbreak scene toward a cat-and-mouse cadence where each Apple update forces toolmakers to re-break the device, institutionalizing a persistent underground ecosystem around the iPhone.