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Apple: why iPhone jailbreaking should not be allowedApple: why iPhone jailbreaking should not be allowedPosted Feb 16, 2009 20:13 UTC (Mon) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698)In reply to: Apple: why iPhone jailbreaking should not be allowed by tgall Parent article: Apple: why iPhone jailbreaking should not be allowed
Beyond running cracked apps, I don't really see much point of jail breaking an iPhone.There are many limitations of the iPhone that can only be circumvented by jailbreaking it. Want to run an applications that does something in the background? Can't do it without jailbreaking. Want to turn off the "phone" wireless, while keeping WiFi or Bluetooth active? Can't do it without jailbreaking. Want to use the iPhone as a means of internet access for your laptop or other devices? Can't do it without jailbreaking. (That may change in the future.) Want to be able to share data between two applications on the same iPhone? Can't do it without jailbreaking. The list of things that people can't do that they might want to do isn't that long and over time it's been getting shorter.No, it's getting longer, as people think up new things they'd like to do with the iPhone. Besides given the apple SDK you can certainly create, run and install whatever.Actually you can't. Applications you develop using the official SDK still run in a sandbox and have many limitations. The only limitation that compiling applications yourself with the SDK circumvents is that then Apple doesn't get a chance to disaspprove the application. I'm a codeveloper of some applications being sold in the app store. It's true that some people who jailbreak their phones might pirate my applications. Nevertheless, I don't think Apple should be able to use the DMCA to prevent jailbreaking phones in cases not involving piracy. As in the Betamax decision, the phone jailbreak has substantial noninfringing uses. Banning jailbreaking because some people use it to pirate applications would be like banning automobiles because some people use them as getaway cars for bank robbery.
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Apple: why iPhone jailbreaking should not be allowed Posted Feb 16, 2009 21:53 UTC (Mon) by tgall (subscriber, #217) [Link]
I don't think there is any debate that a jailbroken iPhone is able to do more things.
I do however believe that the assertion that are is a long list of things you can't do with the iPhone because it isn't jail broken is bunk.
> Want to turn off the "phone" wireless, while keeping WiFi or Bluetooth
Point.
> Want to use the iPhone as a means of internet access for your laptop or
All contracts aside that you've signed with AT&T saying you wouldn't.... actually you can do this without jail breaking. You forget there was even an app for sale at one time that did this.
> Want to be able to share data between two applications on the same
Technically you can. Granted it would be far better for Apple to have something built into the API. But again, the iPhone environment has evolved substantially over the past year.
Now will Apple beat random people over the head with the DMCA? We'll see. Given that Apple got the record labels to drop DRM I think they're a little more progressive then some might think they are.
Apple: why iPhone jailbreaking should not be allowed Posted Feb 20, 2009 0:59 UTC (Fri) by jmorris42 (subscriber, #2203) [Link]
Good list but you forgot the #1 reason someone might want to jailbreak an iPhone.
The iPhone is apparently a fairly nice hardware platform with good Internet connectivity. The only thing it lacks is a working web browser. Apple thinks you can have a browser in this web 2.0 age without the Flash plugin, Java, Acroread etc.
I swear, if somebody could get Adobe to license the Arm port of their plugin, bundled with one of the Moz based embedded browsers and have it 'just work' and sell it at a reasonable price it wouldn't matter whether it was in the official App Store or not. Apple would either relent and allow it to be sold or see half of iPhones jailbroken within a year.
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