Installer.app CAUTION

[NJRonbo]

I agree wholeheartedly with the statement that we bought
the hardware and we should be allowed to install whatever
we want on it. It also goes without saying that should we
break that hardware doing these sort of modifications, we
should not expect to be covered under any warranty.

That being said, what is happening in this case is that Apple
is preventing us from installing 3rd party applications.

These applications (to date) are safe, cause no risk to the
phone itself, and are being widely enjoyed by those who have
installed them. Why must Apple feel that they should step in
and lock their phones from such installations?

This is the major problem here. Apple has been so forthcoming
lately about giving more control of choice to their consumers
but in the same breath are trying to stop them from installing
hacks on the phone as if to say, "you will only install what we
want you to install."

 

[knightlie]

That being said, what is happening in this case is that Apple
is preventing us from installing 3rd party applications.

There is no evidence of that. Apple stated that an update was likely to cause modified phones - i.e. whose firmware have been tampered with - to fail. And it did. They are also perfectly within their rights to prevent unlocked phones from working on non-ATT networks as the iPhone is ATT-exclusive (and ATT will be pressuring them over that issue).

These applications (to date) are safe, cause no risk to the
phone itself, and are being widely enjoyed by those who have
installed them. Why must Apple feel that they should step in
and lock their phones from such installations?

See above. Those "installations" are incompatible with the new firmware. It doesn't matter how "safe" these hacks are, if you screw around with the phones firmware then sooner or later something will go wrong. In this case, later.

This is the major problem here. Apple has been so forthcoming
lately about giving more control of choice to their consumers...

Can you be more specific about this in relation to the iPhone, which, by design, is locked to ATT (or other carriers where appropriate) and cannot have third-party apps installed without hacking it?

...but in the same breath are trying to stop them from installing
hacks on the phone as if to say, "you will only install what we
want you to install."

The process of installing third-party hacks (not apps, hacks) messes up the software of the phone. Apple has said nothing about what you can or cannot install on your phone, but their update clashes with those hacks. Unlucky.

The EULA and warranty state all this, and people that have broken those just to get a pretty picture or some Nintendo emulator installed are SOL.