Apple spits out increment iOS version
Another chance to lock up jailbroken handsets
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Apple has shot out iOS version 4.3.2, fixing a couple of FaceTime bugs, and providing better connectivity when roaming, while giving itself another opportunity to close up opened handsets.
The development team behind ultrasn0w; today's de rigueur jailbreaking tool, are warning users off the latest update for fear of finding their uber handsets and fondleslabs back under Cupertino's control. Responding by Twitter, and picked up by Cult of Mac, the team say that Apple has been aggressively locking down jailbroken handsets, but that they still prefer being locked out to being sued.
Jailbreaking – "unlocking" a handset so that unapproved applications can be installed – is demonstrably legal in the USA, so Apple is reduced to threatening to withdraw support, trying to make jailbreaking unnecessary, and issuing repeated updates that lock down previously unlocked devices.
The idea isn't to make jailbreaking impossible – that would be effectively impossible – but Apple can make it inconvenient, while simultaneously using its market presence to ensure that there is no killer reason to do so. Cupertino reasons that then the number of jailbroken devices will fall and the alternative application stores will dry up and, eventually, the hackers will get bored and find another hobby.
Until then we have the ongoing battle, but if your FaceTime contacts are looking botoxed (thanks to the frozen screens that FaceTime throws up every now and then) and you've not jailbroken your iDevice, then the update is in iTunes now. ®
COMMENTS
RE: Is it me...
It's unlikely that phone manufacturers, including Apple, care that much about jailbreaking/rooting; if they did, they'd have gone for exotic solutions from the start, whereas seriously hard to root/jailbreak devices have only turned up in the last year (ignoring the Motorola locked bootloaders, which is a slightly different issue). I suspect that it's largely telecom pressure; nothing must endanger the all-important paid tethering!
Never Learn
"Cupertino reasons that then the number of jailbroken devices will fall and the alternative application stores will dry up and, eventually, the hackers will get bored and find another hobby."
Clearly someone doesn't understand the hacker mindest.
Somehow...
I can't ever imagine Apple releasing their control over the phone, and until people can install whatever application they like, be it animated boobies or whatever, there will always be a market for jail breaking techniques.
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