*points & laughs*

off of consumerist.com:

Schadenfreude

The Forewarned iPhone Bricking Has Begun

Earlier this week Apple warned its customers that a update was going to render some modified handsets "permanently inoperable".

How sweet. Well, it was true. iPhones are bricked. In fact, our sister-site Gizmodo has amended their review of the iPhone and are now recommending that you do not buy it due to the loss of cool third-party applications that will now no longer work on the updated iPhone.

(For the record, we always recommended that you not succumb to iPhone hype, and we even made the editor who loves Apple write a story about it. We're so mean.)

From BBC News (emphasis ours):

That warning has now proved correct as many owners are reporting their phones no longer work following installation of the update.

Apple requires iPhone owners to take out a lengthy contract with AT&T in the United States but there are a number of programs on the net that unlock the device for use with other networks.
Some owners are reporting on technology blogs and Apple's own forums that the update is deleting contacts information, as well as photos and music, on iPhones that have not been modified in any way.
Awesome. Good job, Apple.
Here's what one bricked iPhone user has to say:

Walked (well, more like ran) over to the nearest AT&T store. I told them my iPhone stopped working and that iTunes told me I needed a new SIM card (both true). The guy said no problem, and handed me a new SIM. He told me to install it, connect to iTunes, and activate the SIM with my existing account. Just got back, popped in the SIM, and no luck--getting the same errors.Tell us all your iPhone bricking stories at tips [at] consumerist [dot] com.