It's rare that you have to downgrade your smartphone or PDA's firmware. And it's even rarer that you're doing so because you're trying to retain control over your own gadget.

That's what's been happening with the iPhone. Apple, to honor the legal obligations it entered with AT&T, are doing their very best to keep their smartphone in a closed system.

On the other side are online groups like iPhone Dev, who are trying their very best to keep the iPhone open. This particular battle centers on the recent 1.1.1 iPhone update. As Jimmie says: "[3rd party apps] get wiped out, and there's no way to install them with 1.1.1."

iPhone Dev have recently posted instructions to bring an iPhone's firmware version back down, sorting their three available methods by difficulty. This war is all about control; it's about controlling what the iPhone can or can't do.

My enthusiasm for the iPhone diminishes as I witness the fight between Apple and freelancing hackers/modders. Why buy an iPhone when you won't be able to do everything you want to do with it? A moot question for John Q. Public, but not for a power user like me.

Maybe Apple's vigorously protecting the factory-locked nature of the iPhone because AT&T is pressuring it to do so. If that's the case, perhaps Apple bit off more than it can chew.