Katie MarsalThe well-known iPhone Dev Team has released one of the first utilities to jailbreak iPhone 3G and let it run unsanctioned apps, albeit one with more than a few catches.
What it won't do, however, is unlock iPhone 3G for use with wireless carriers other than those Apple has officially chosen. The different cellular hardware prevents the unlock process for the original device from translating directly to the newer phone. Unlocking is still possible for earlier phones.
The software also breaks backwards compatibility with earlier iPhone and iPod firmware and requires version 2.0 firmware on all of these devices.
Apple has historically been relatively passive in its responses to unlocking tools. While the company warned that its 1.1.1 firmware update risked rendering unlocked iPhones unusable, most other updates haven't created a similar effect and the company has largely kept to thwarting unlocking efforts by patching against security exploits that would also compromise locked devices.
With iPhone 3G, the iPhone maker has primarily relied on controlling the retail experience by requiring that iPhones be activated for a contract in-store, discouraging casual unlocking. The availability of approved third-party apps is also widely believed to curb the demand for jailbreaking and unlocking tools.
Malcolm Owen
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86 Comments
I have had no luck with both original and 3G iPhones.
Those of you that are going to use this, what are your primary reasons for its use?
Those of you that are going to use this, what are your primary reasons for its use?
1) Allows people with original iPhones to use v2.0 firmware and the Installer.app for non-authorized apps with a non-partnered carrier.
2) Allows people with 3G iPhones to use v2.0 firmware and the Installer.app for non-authorized apps on the iPhone.
Those of you that are going to use this, what are your primary reasons for its use?
I don't have an iPhone or iPod touch, but I am writing apps for them.
WIth the present app store policy, I can't just post my app for people to test - each of my testers has to get a certificate from me and it gets installed on his phone to deem it an "approved" phone for my app.
This is a big pain in the ass, to ask your testers to install software that might require a re-load of their device once they are done testing.
So removing that would help in that it would be just like any other Objective-C app I write; I can just post the executable in any forum and people can download and test it.
Apple has done several weird things with this app store business. There seems to me to be no reason that I shouldn't be able to upload my app anywhere, have people use it, and then if I want to promote or sell it, pay the $99 and put it on the app store.
Of course, any friend who is running Xcode with the iPhone OS can connect their device and test my app; but that's a lot to ask of a tester also.
Those of you that are going to use this, what are your primary reasons for its use?
I want SSH and Terminal apps at least. So far there's none on the app store. Hopefully these will be coming, otherwise I'll need to jailbreak.