Apple slams door on 'mercenary' iOS5 developers

Apple Inc. has slammed the door on developers of its upcoming iOS 5 operating system who may have sold their slots to other people. The iPhone/iPad maker has sent email warnings to developers it suspects of selling their slots —and has started closing down their accounts. "And Apple has started closing the developer accounts for selling the slots and also, have flagged the UDIDs (unique device identifiers) associated with that dev account, thus making the iOS 5 device unusable," one developer, "Karthikk," said in a blog post. It has likewise locked the devices of those who bought the slots, "Karthikk" said. "Once Apple locks your iOS device, the phone will enter the initial setup mode asking you to connect to a WiFi network. And nothing happens more than that," he said. He said the only way to keep using a potentially affected iPhone is to downgrade from iOS 5 to iOS 4.3. A separate article on TheNextWeb said the affected devices are then pushed into the setup mode and are unable to be used beyond that. "This pursuit of those who abuse developer accounts to make money off of selling the slots has been a long time coming. If the reports are accurate and Apple is closing accounts being misused this way, it’s definitely a good thing," it said (http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/08/05/apple-closes-developer-accounts-for-selling-ios-5-beta-slots/). — TJD, GMA News