14 DAY TRIAL // Giving a whole new meaning to the term “pathetic,” Chinese customers of the social network QQ have resorted to buying fake “Sent from my iPhone” taglines to add a coolness factor to their gadget status symbol. The hack even displays an iPhone logo to better highlight the who’s-who of subscribers.
I can think of a number of places in this world where something like this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but none before China, the land of knockoffs.
Via Penn-Olson comes word that users of China’s QQ social network pay hackers up to 8 RMB ($1.25) a month to have their status messages display "Sent from my iPhone" - or "Sent from iPhone QQ", ironically, from their Android phones.
Droids are a dime a dozen. Only those that run the latest version of Google’s OS (4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich) compete with the iPhone, both on features, and on the pricing front.
Which would make you a really pathetic person to own something like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and fire off messages using the “sent from my iPhone” tag line. In fact, the Nexus is a beast compared to the latest iPhone - on quite a number of levels.
But the problem isn’t how pathetic it would be. It’s the security that you need to consider first, and foremost.
The report says the hack uses a modified version of the QQ for Android app that will display the fake signature on a person’s QQ IM profile. So far, so good.
BUT, to get that modified app, you have to give the seller/hacker your QQ login credentials so they can change your avatar, place an iPhone logo inside and tweak some settings.
The most popular hack seller closed 329 deals in the past month. He reportedly said “The iPhone is too expensive and we do not want to spend all that money just to impress friends.”
Right. But giving away your passwords to a total stranger is a far better deal. It makes total sense.