In the endless game of cat and mouse that is Apple vs. the jailbreak scene, the cat just put a pretty nasty gash in the mouse’s face.
For the past seven months, jailbreaking (opening an iPhone to applications not signed by Apple for installation) has relied on an exploit dubbed “24kPwn”. We’ll skip the technical voodoo for the sake of not putting you straight to sleep, but here’s the important bit: in the latest batch of iPhone 3GS units to hit the shelves, the exploit has been fixed. Unless a new exploit is discovered (and, with each patch, this is becoming less and less likely), any iPhone 3GS to ship after last week will not be jailbreakable.
If you want the full technical rundown of the exploit, you can find it here. In its simplest form: as with all computers, the iPhone requires something called a “Bootrom” to startup. During the startup process, one stretch of code in the Bootrom fails to ensure that the content being loaded is within a certain size limit. By throwing more instructions at that chunk of code than it’s intended to handle, exploiters are able to make the iPhone do damn near whatever they want; in this case, the jailbreaking process.
The first to notice that the 24kPwn exploit was no longer functioning was France’s Mathieu H.. A few hours later, others had confirmed the news. The latest Bootrom, iBoot-359.3.2, was no longer vulnerable to 24kPwn.
So, why would Apple do this? The exploit wasn’t really a security risk to the user; it wasn’t accessible without physical access to the handset, and the process was just intense enough that it couldn’t be done accidentally. Sure, it theoretically allowed malicious code to be run on the iPhone which might brick the handset – but that has by no means been an issue thus far. There’s only one other reason, then.
Even as Apple continues to open up APIs and (very) slowly loosen their restrictions on the App Store, there are many, many (legal) reasons why jailbreaking is fantastic; alas, there’s one why it’s not: piracy. While jailbreaking allows for countless wonderful (but otherwise disallowed) apps to run on the iPhone, it also allows cracked versions of paid applications to be installed. As a result, piracy is mind-blowingly, soul-crushingly rampant on the iPhone. Many iPhone developers – such as those behind the popular IM client, Beejive – are reporting that 80 percent of their users are pirates. Yep. For every 10 users on Beejive, 8 of them didn’t pay for it. I’m no saint myself, and all of us here fully understand that a download does not equal a lost sale – but when 80% of the people using your app (and in Beejive’s case, your servers) aren’t paying to keep the lights on, it’s likely seen as a big issue.
Will another exploit be found? Most likely. There is no such thing as perfect code – especially in something as complex as an operating system. It may be difficult, and it may require waiting through an update or two, but eventually someone will find a way back in.
The best choice Apple can do is to allow other app store.
Cat and mouse game is like a stalemate.
If they’d just allow sideloading, it’d solve a ton of issues. People could load whatever the hell they want, and nobody but pirates would have reason to complain.
Alas, that’s far more complex than “just allow”ing it. Introducing a new install method almost undoubtedly introduces new security exploits, which takes them right back to square one.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I love it when Apple $#!Ts on their fanboys! LOLOLOLOLz
No. Seriously. I love it.
I can’t wait for Android to crush Apple.
The people hacking proprietary apple software and hardware for the use of the apt repository (cydia) are hardly ‘Apple Fan Boys’ at all.
If anything, They are more akin to linux / bsd users who know how to use the iphone and it’s ARM processor better than any ‘typical Apple end-user’
A jailbroken iphone can be used as a very handy network utility tool and system-administration and monitoring. They run a full BASH terminal with the (near) same repository of applications available as Ubuntu / Debian Linux.
I guess I will just have to jailbreak the Online iPhone Demo:
http://bit.ly/XhmuF
@Indiana Gividen…….
You will be waiting a LONG time if you think the Androooool will crush the iPhone. No seriously keep waiting….
Wait a minute, didn’t google already take a dump on their fanboys?
http://j.mp/if2om
@Boogybren
Theres a difference between jailbreaking/rooting/unlocking your phone (which is possible on both sides atm, but only apple is fighting) and asking people not to distribute their apps in unofficial roms.
IMHO, apple has deliberately chosen to do 2 things to maximize their profits for years now:
1) Don’t allow the iphone to get too popular. Having a small percentage of the phone market (15% of smartphones) allows it to stay under the radar of anti-monopoly legislation so they can always say “if you don’t like it, there are alternatives”
2) Raise their profit margin enough so that they keep their profits, and bind their users in a ridiculously restrictive eula
I’m not sure how #1 is accurate. I thought the iPhone was the most popular smart phone right now, and certainly the most wanted phone. The current factor limiting growth the most is Apple’s exclusivity deal with AT&T. I’m sure when/if the iPhone is available on other networks, it will become even more popular. Doesn’t Microsoft hold 80%+ of the OS market?
The idea that a company would not want its flagship communication product to “get too popular” makes no sense.
Doesn’t this kinda miss the point – if your app is being wildly pirated, when it’s that much harder to install a pirated version, then maybe you’re pricing your app too high?
I looked at Beejive. And I decided not to buy, because it costs like a bajillion dollars. I didn’t pirate it either, too much hassle. But, in market terms, I have to wonder how much BIGGER the market for cross-platform IM apps on iPhone is than the customer/pirate base that BJ has. It’s not hard to imagine that at $.99-$1.99, they’d both drastically reduce piracy, AND pick up the folks like me who would go without rather than pay more than a few bucks, regardless of the apps’ featureset.
The only defense against piracy is finding a free-to-consumer legal model that is still profitable. Surely there’s something that could be done around IM?
yeah, one store for legal apps and one store for illegal/cracked apps … eh? http://www.uquery.com/stats
I know a lot of people with jailbroken phones, most of them have never installed a cracked app, or any app outside Cydia for that matter.
Cydia apps are legal. As is jailbreaking.
Never mind the ipod! We have had enough of it!
Have you heard about the new device that Emblaze mobile is releasing in 2010??
I’ve heard that the GUI is absolutely amazing! Rumors say it will completely change the way people interact with their device.Can’t wait!
You mean the one that was supposed to ship in H2 2009 but that they’ve been shopping around since 2007? The one that has specs that are almost the same as the iPhone 3GS but with a slightly higher res screen? And no applications?
Yeah, that will change everything!
I think you’re going to have to ask your “word-of-mouth” advertorial staff to write you up a better script.
Real Jonah: Noo! Good thing I didn’t upgrade to a 3GS
Developer Jonah: Haha! Fuck you, jailbreakers! No one pirates MY apps!
Because your apps suck.
Pong? Pizza calculator? Hot Links? lol gtfo
hahahahahah
Goodbye Apple, hello Android!
Isn’t the Apple app store acting as a monopoly to what programs can be sold on its iPhone?
What if Microsoft had a program store and you had to buy any program that would function on a PC?
Do you think Microsoft would get away with that?
just saying…
the iPhone only has about 13% market share of the smartphone market… so they’re not successful enough.
If they increase their market share up to some percentage that regulators pull out of the air, well then they face the great antitrust assault.
remember, those great capitalist legislators want you to be as successful as you can be… within limits. don’t be too successful. don’t win… almost win. :P
A company can fall afoul of antitrust law without holding a monopoly over the broad category of the product. You even implicitly acknowledged as much in your post by saying “smartphones.” If you could make an antitrust case out of smartphones then why not an antitrust case concerning applications that can run on the iPhone? They’re both submarkets, one’s just a little smaller than the other.
Umm… They did find a way in. Was released Sunday. It’s called blackra1n. Successor to purplera1n. Sorry to burst your anti-piracy bubble.
aut0 you don’t know what you’re talking about
Right. look for geohot on twitter and then shut it, pal.
blackra1n was for 3.1.2 not for the new bootrom
-sigh-
I miss the time when people actually read articles before commenting.
I miss the time when techcrunch knew what they were writing about. MG you make yourself look like a clown when you act like you know tech.
The most you will have to spend to the App Store is $100, since this service is the strength of the iPhone, I will be with Apple.
A jailbroken iPhone feels very unstable, leave the good job to the people that know what to do.
I haven’t had a crash or error on my iphone in…weeks or months-always been jailbroken.
It’s like taking away the magic, similar to download Super Mario…it must be original!
thats the dumbest thing i heard all day.. congrats u win a prize!
jailbreakin is my right as an owner of MY iphone…its not rented so i can and should be able to whatever i want to it.
Yeah, that is pretty dumb. Most people don’t jailbreak to pirate but to get functionality that Apple is denying them (although many END UP pirating).
My wife has no interest in jailbreaking hers but I would jailbreak my IPhone if I ever bought one (until they add a real keyboard, I have no interest).
@mikey & @SLEZE
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve jailbroken my 3GS to get Backgrounder on it and be able to use the phone as “I” would like to. Coming from a Nokia, not being able to run apps in the background would have drove me crazy. I’ve never installed one pirated app even though they’re easily available. On the other hand, my wife has no use for jailbreaking her iPhone, so it’s not.
In my experience, most adults jailbreak to get more functionality, most kids jailbreak to pirate.
there’s a $100 maximum on the App Store? So every app after that is free? sweet!
Enjoy the herd Andrea….
i’ve almost never had a crash on my iPwn.
Jailbreaking doesnt really change anything about how the iphone’s OS functions.
Let proprietary HW/OS devices stay vanilla for people like you. For those of us that like freedom, like the DevTeam, we’ll keep jailbreaking.
typical stupid uneducated female answer. shut it and get back in the kitchen
Uhm, can we not have this guy on our side? Please?
Apple needs to fix the app store problems first instead of spending time locking the phones down.
The second thing they need to do is ensure that devs that put a lot of time and money into developing for the platform know if their app will get accepted or not.
I’d bet a lot of people who jailbreak and pirate apps do so first because they don’t want to get stuck with crappy applications.
I bet a lot of people who jailbreak and pirate apps do so because they think they’re automatically entitled to whatever it is they want for free.
Just waiting for the day when one of these wonderful “jailbreak” software providers also slip in a little something extra during the installation process.
Here’s to the first iPhone botnet…
The only thing I’ve “pirated” are apps which didn’t offer a free version, in order to see how well they worked. Mostly Twitter clients, actually. I’ve deleted all of them since then.
The ones I have kept I have always removed and then buying them legitimately, because pirated apps don’t get updates and such, and the updates are totally worth it. Pirating apps is a pain in the ass.
There is a huge distinction between ‘jailbreaking’ which is legal, and cracking software, which is essentially stealing. Jailbreaking is a process done to a physical device that was paid for. And i doubt an iphone botnet would be that plausible, or useful were it done. The nodes move too inconsistently through various LANs all the time, and go between 3G networks. You wanna talk security flaw, all iphones come with the same default root password out the box. ‘Alpine’
I am so sick of people thinking that cracked applications are stealing.
Stealing would be pirating the Operating System you HAVE to use to get your computer working. But If pirating weren’t an option on the iPhone, the truth is I would not even consider purchasing any of these apps. There’s no sales lost here.
That’s frankly like saying anyone who looks at any of my illustrations is, in fact, a thief.
Pirating apps is stealing, keem. A majority of users would pay for apps if there was no way to steal them.
If you don’t like those crappy apps when you have to pay for them, why would you like those crappy apps if they’re free? Crap is crap. Only difference is that in the second case the crap-apps (let’s call them crapps) are free.
Either they’re crappy or you just don’t want to pay. I suspect the latter. It may be physically “your phone” but the software you licensed from Apple to use on your phone is most certainly not.
Jon, you’re not getting what he’s saying. He’s saying he doesn’t want to buy an app based on the description, which is written by the app developer and will spin the app to look as nice as possible, and pay money for something that *might be* crap.
One perfectly reasonable, if not legal, application of “piracy” is the “try before you buy” approach. It’s like what shareware was once meant to be.
Consider regular software on a regular computer. Pretend you bought, say, a karaoke program. Maybe you paid $100 for this program. You go to host a karaoke night using it, and it ends in disaster because the program continually crashes and your club night is dead in the water because the bar owners don’t think you have your shit together. You paid $100 and have only humiliation to show for it.
Testing with a demo version is safer, but iPhone apps don’t always have free demo versions. But lets say the theoretical karaoke program for your laptop does have a demo version. Nowadays that generally means the demo version will have some limitation. Perhaps it has a recorder feature, so you can make your victims (err, guests) CDs of their performances or let them download the MP3s later. You get excited about this ability and promote based on that, but then when you go to use it, it doesn’t work, so you end up looking stupid again. Even if you test it before promoting, you did just spend money for a feature that doesn’t work. Even a “plays only the first thirty seconds of a track in demo mode” doesn’t necessarily help if you end up with a lemon program that continually crashes after forty seconds.
He has a perfectly legitimate point in not wanting a bunch of crap apps on his iPhone, and finding the ability to check them out for free ahead of time to be a reasonable use of what gets strangely called piracy, even though it has nothing to do with high sea robbery.
be honest—-I like the freedom of experimenting with many third party applications, yet the App Store still manage to provide a good variety, at least for the moment.
Hear hear, Apple should allow other App Stores. The whole world will be up in arms if Microsoft insists that only programs sold from its own App Store be able to run on Windows-based PC.
Apple, being the no.1 victim of Microsoft’s hegemony, should dress in their own shoes this time.
Android has a get out of jail free card :-D
+1000 just bought the htc hero
Apple’s closed ecosystem makes power users more likely to want to leave, I think. I’d rather go Android, because I doubt I’ll have to crack that to get it to load all the apps I want.
Yeah, that’s why you have to flash the ROM on Android phones, it’s so “open”.
And what do you think your doing to your iPhone when you update/restore your phone? I’m sorry that Apple has hidden this term from you as to not scare you when updates come out.
To quote, ” I was trying to find out how HTC HERO users can get root access and how I can flash Android images from community.”
http://i-miss-erin.blogspot.com/2009/09/android-rom-images-from-community.html
If an Android phone as shipped is so open, then why does one need root access? If one can install anything they want from the get go, then why all of the “community” images each supporting different features?
Michael, you don’t have to flash Android at all. That’s just an option some people take. My Magic is still 100% stock and I can do whatever the hell I please.
Your next ignorant comment will be?
rotflol, yep, what Dave said!
that’s only to get root access. I can download & install whatever app I want. I’ve yet to need to get root access to get around any Draconian policy Google has come out with (hint: Google has no policy against apps that compete with their own functionality). (Actually, come to think of it, does any smartphone manufacturer except Apple have that policy?)
I’ve had both an iphone and an Android phone. Apple pushed me away with their policies.
I understand some people are happy living within overly-restrictive walled gardens that protect them from the boogie man. Some people were also happy using the internet through AOL. Different strokes….
Why does Apple need an exclusive deal with AT&T anymore? There is a huge market for iPhones. Why can’t Apple just sell unsubsidized, unlocked versions to the people who want them? If you don’t want to play the full, unlocked price, then you can go to the carrier to get a subsidized phone. But for those who are in-contract already and don’t want to extend it by two-years, sell us the g’damned unlocked version! Congress should make it illegal to tie the purchase of a phone to a carrier’s network and put an end to this nonsense once and for all.
I agree. I also believe contracts should be made illegal to prevent locked in customers. Seems corps are doing exactly opposite to what customers want.
I’m still waiting for these things to be 200 bucks each before I jump onboard.
I’m gonna jailbreak it and of COURSE download every ap I can. Till then I can wait.
Apple is waiting for their contract with AT&T to expire.
I jailbreak my phone but have never pirated an app. The main reason is the apps are such great value.
I’m not defending piracy, but do you think beehive would be 80% pirated if it was $2.99? No chance.
Let’s get the stats on Tweetie.
Actually, this percentage rings true across nearly every developer we’ve spoken to, from 99 cents on up. 80% is right around average.
There is specific code that can be added to apps to make sure that it can not be pirated.
Also, there is nothing special about this that has never existed in the past. Software in general has to be protected to ensure that it is not stolen or pirated. At the same level, pirates will always find ways to pirate the software.
The reality is that Apple does not provide the tools to the developers to make sure that their apps are safe. Even with all of their existing protection, I still only bought BeeHive once and have it running on three phones because they are all connected to my iTunes account. Call it sharing, but I am sure that the developer wants to charge me three times.
There is no fool proof way to protect any software. Blaming jailbreaking is just pointing fingers. Jailbroken iPhones are much better phones and allow features that should have been there in the beginning.
Sorry but almost all the code examples on the dev forums for detecting cracked apps has been bypassed.
There was one new way posted a few days ago but it got removed by the mods.
80% is four fifths. iTunes accounts can be authorised on five computers.
That’s a big “duh” right there.
Holy shit, Justin. Software costs time and money to develop.
This just doesn’t add up.
1. The number of people who jailbreak an iphone is a small % of total
2. “when 80% of the people using your app (and in Beejive’s case, your servers) aren’t paying to keep the lights on, it’s likely seen as a big issue.” That’s already a red flag. Why is this app so popular with jailbroken phones but not regular users?
3. Since this service depends on servers, how hard is it to check and see if this user has paid, has a valid key, and therefor allowed to use the service?
Exactly what I was thinking – the statistics here are bullshit. 80% piracy suggests massive amounts of jailbroken phones – something which just isn’t true.
Right, this is bogus math on the part of Beejive’s case. Let pretend that without jailbreaking 100 people buy their IM client.
Now you add Jailbreaking to the equation and only 90 people buy the app. But now the total user base is 450 people because people who never would have bought the app are now pirating it. Are they really losing the revenue of 360 people? 80% or are they just losing the revenue of 10 people in a jailbreak free world?
Although Beejive does have to have the support infrastructure in this example for 450 people. I suspect a lot of pirates aren’t even using most of the stuff they download anyways. I don’t think its fair to say they are losing 80% of their revenue from pirates. This is fuzzy math used to make an extreme example of the situation.
There is no way to tell if the user of an app has purchased it or not. Beejive is just taking the total number of users using their servers vs. the number of sales they have made.
I bought the BeeJive IM app, then gave it to 4 of my friends legally (authorized their computer with my iTunes account). There’s your 80% “pirate” stat right there… Which of course is totally inaccurate.
I think it’s a bit naive to state that “future exploits are less and less likely”.
You underestimate hackers. These kids will sit in their basement for the next 48 hours until the new patch is exploited (if it’s not already, which I highly believe has probably already happen but maybe the hack hasn’t been popularized yet). These cat and mouse games never go well for the cat. There’s too many mice.
Information wants to be free, yanno? Like the methane in your intestines.
Apple doesn’t need to take on the onus of protecting every developer. Rightly said, Microsoft would not be able to do that realistically.
Let all app developers look to their own. If Beejive knows which the pirated accounts are, then why don’t they move to block them?
If I’m a developer who owns an iPhone, this means that if I want to write an app for myself and install it, not distribute it, is the only way of doing so going through the process of submitting it to the App Store for approval?
Pay the $99 developer fee to Apple. Your phone is then unlocked for installation of apps outside the app store.
Is that right? for $99 everyone can be legitimately jailbroken without having to deal with all the pawnage and rain tools?
Interesting..
BTW. When you say unlocked its usually construed as carrier unlock which is an entirely different subject.
No, it’s not true. You can only install apps which you have compiled and signed with your certificate.
Personally, I hope Apple figures out a way to completely disable jailbreaking. I would like to see the people who jailbreak an iPhone get upset enough to go use an Android phone. Anything but an iPhone.
Don’t support Apple, they’re not supporting you.
http://blackra1n.com/ Please actually DO the research before you report. *sigh*
Agreed. Pwnage for 3.1.2 has been released too. Not quite as simple (or fun) as redsn0w, but it does the job.
Isn’t blackra1n the version for 3.1.2, NOT the new bootrom?
Yes Blackra1n does not address this ROM patch. It is simply a method to jailbreak the 3.1.2 iPhone OS on non ROM patched devices.
STOP POSTING BLACKRA1N, AUT0
IT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE NEW BOOTROM, ONLY THE NEW VERSION OF THE OS
THERE TECHNICALLY ISN’T EVEN A SINGLE WORD BESIDES “DONATE” TO READ ON THAT WEBSITE ANYWAY LOL
Yeah, that guy sounds like a whiner. “Don’t hotlink. Don’t sell it. I’ll call my lawyers.”
Everybody keeps missing the real point in all of these iPhone jailbreaking discussions. When you jailbreak your iPhone you are breaking an agreement that you freely made when you bought and began to use your iPhone. Have any of you actually read the EULA that came with your iPhone?
Nobody held a gun to your head and forced you to buy an iPhone, there are MANY alternatives and choosing one of them is how you get Apple (or any vendor for that matter) to change policies that you may disagree with, it’s called market pressure. Entering into an agreement then breaking it shows a total lack of integrity and brings into question the value of your word.
I would never knowingly enter into any kind of agreement with the owner of a jailbroken iPhone because I could never be sure that you would keep your word. If you are willing to break an agreement that you freely entered into with Apple, I have no reason to believe that you would live up to your end of any agreement with me.
The software pirating thing and all of the other reasons that I have heard or read for not jailbreaking an iPhone are completely beside the point.
This is not a defense of Apple’s policies or EULA since I don’t consider several of points in the iPhone EULA acceptable and I don’t like AT&T. These are the reasons that I don’t have an iPhone. I entered into an agreement with a competitor because their entire EULA is acceptable to me and at this point I don’t have a problem with the carrier.
That is a silly argument. If you buy something, you own it and can use it as you like. What if every car company made you sign a EULA that prevented you from using anyone’s motor oil or windshield washer fluid except their own? Would you still buy a car?
Look at the success of Roombas. They encourage their users to hack their vacuums (although it voids your warranty – which is understandable).
The answer is NO I would not buy a car that has a EULA with provisions that I consider unacceptable. I would buy a car from their competitors. If enough people do that the manufacturer will have two choices, change the EULA or remove the product from the market. If you were the manufacturer which would you choose?
But your argument is not valid since you are talking about hardware. The EULA covers the software which includes the operating system and system ROM not specifically the hardware. Jailbreaks all involve circumventing or modifying the operating system and or system ROM.
You really should read the EULA and see what you are agreeing to and what is covered by that agreement. Would you sign a contract without reading it and agreeing with the terms laid out in it? A software EULA is no different. A contract is a written agreement between two or more parties, as is a EULA (End User License Agreement).
I suppose you could write your own operating system and ROM if you wanted to, I didn’t see anything in the EULA prohibiting that.
You are wrong about being able to do whatever you want with everything that you buy. When you buy any program you are not buying the software, you are buying a license that grants you the right to use it on one or more devices. The publisher/author keeps ownership of the actual software and source code. This is clearly stated in every EULA that I have ever read, and I read the EULA for every piece of software that I buy or use. Even open source software is generally covered by some kind of license, GPL…
The question remains the same. If you are willing to enter into an agreement with Apple (or anybody else for that matter) then break it, what reason would I have to believe that you would not do the same to me.
You are NEVER forced to buy and use an iPhone or any software which binds you to the terms of the of the publishers EULA. But once you do, integrity demands that you live up to your end of the agreement that you entered into, whether you like it or not.
I wonder if your attitude would be different if it were Apple not living up to their end of the EULA.
What are you getting at?
When I buy an iPhone, I am paying not just for the software on it but for the actual hardware. This allows me to install/modify/destroy anything on the device (or the device itself) as I please. The EULA can NOT keep me from doing this, so I don’t know why you continue to bring it up.
If they became defendants in a case related to the iPhone I’m sure they would use the EULA as a tool, but other than that it really doesn’t hold any legal relevance.
@ Peter – October 14th, 2009 at 6:44 am CDT
There is a difference between Power and Authority.
The End User License Agreement outlines what authority is agreed to. The fact that you can (try to) do whatever you want is a matter of power.
If a traffic light is red, you may not have the authority to proceed. But you may have the power to proceed.
Apple would be within their rights (authority again) to press charges against you for breaking the agreement. A court would decide if such an EULA was just. And possibly haul you off to jail or require you to pay a fine (having both power and authority). Or even rule that such an EULA is illegal. It does come down to who OWNs the device (and accompanying software and uses of HW & SW).
I don’t OWN an iPhone either (due to lack of openness and AT&T). Imagine if 80% of the iPhone market applied market pressure to Apple. Perhaps Apple, normally being used to such small market share, would still not change their EULA anyway, but fixing the ROM is an attempt to apply power.
I would like the right (the AUTHORITY) to install/modify/destroy anything on the device (or the device itself) as I please. However, at present, all I have is the POWER to do this.
How you act is between you, the other party, the earthly authorities (who may also have power), and your God.
@ Dan – October 14th, 2009 at 5:19 am CDT
“But once you do, integrity demands that you live up to your end of the agreement that you entered into, whether you like it or not.”
As a developer, I’m probably not going to rely on the “integrity” of the likes of Peter and the other 80% in this 21st century zeitgeist.
How did you like Peter’s “If they became defendants in a case…EUL(icense)A(greement)…tool, but other than that it really doesn’t hold any legal relevance.”?
It seems that in his mind, the law only matters when you get caught.
@ Jon – October 14th, 2009 at 2:34 am CDT
I too would like to see this tested in court (and hope for a just ruling). If I choose to not have the “gorgeous Apple functionality and user experience”, by adding my own software in a fully sanctioned (AUTHORIZED) way, I’m well aware that I customized MY device and will not hold Apple accountable for this different “user experience” (as long as MY device does not get maliciously bricked by Apple). However, if I as a developer offer software for a fee, I also expect to be paid by a user who uses it. And I may want to go to a different carrier before 2 years.
InstructICC – October 14th, 2009 at 8:36 am CDT
As a developer, I’m probably not going to rely on the “integrity” of the likes of Peter and the other 80% in this 21st century zeitgeist.
As a developer myself I must agree, there is a definite widespread lack of integrity today.
Otto – October 14th, 2009 at 10:17 am CDT
Reverse engineering is a legally protected right.
I assume that you can produce or direct us all to supporting documentation for that statement.
I will cannot recommend the iPhone for our companies staff. I agree piracy is a problem, which this article has made me more aware of than I previously was, but I do not agree with the level of lock-in and control users are subjected to.
A new method/ethic/whatever needs to be found for all things digital. I can see anonymity disappearing on the net in the future (IPv6 and 666 anyone?). As other posters say, where there’s a will, crackers will find a way. Actually it is capitalism itself and monetization of everything that is enslaving us, but I still do not like the level of lock-in Apple exercise.
Dan, why are you insulting people’s integrity just because you are anal and weird?
There’s a big de facto, if not de jure, difference between a real agreement and a jumble of small print or a ‘click here,’ and the way most people deal with them is different.
Understand, I realise you may not actually be anal and weird. Based on what you’ve said, you may simply be a lawyer. Either way, though, you’re not representative of “normal” people, you’re representative of what companies are trying to push and pressure people into being because people like you are more convenient.
To attack everyone who’s jailbroken their phone in the comments section of a post like this is certainly a “wrong barm buddy” scenario, at best. More likely, it’s not best. I’m thinking it’s probably just pathetic trolldom.
The Roombas reference is completely irrelevant.
Just because Roombas encourages hacking and is successful does not obligate anybody to adopt their policies.
THis is a silly argument indeed. I bought my iphone 3g on craigslist, i did not sign any EULA. I bought my Iphone 2g brand new from the apple store, at no point between taking it out of the box, updating it on itunes, and then jailbreaking/unlocking it multiple times over the last 2 years have i ever signed any EULA.
Yeah, but sometimes they get you with wording like “by using the phone you are showing your acceptance and agreement with this license” in the EULA itself, so you don’t actually have to sign anything.
Hell, it’s probably in the iTunes terms and conditions lol.
You don’t physically sign a form, you click “ok” or “accept” or whatever the button says in iTunes. Dan is technically correct about the Eula.
Ignorance of the law is not a defense.
No EULA can make you give up your legal rights.
Reverse engineering is a legally protected right. Apple’s EULA is unenforceable.
Reverse-engineering is a legally protected right. Using pirated software (a reverse-engineered hack such as jailbreaking) is very much illegal. You seem to be confusing process vs. product.
The iPhone (the physical device which you use to place calls which fail constantly and download apps over their “3G” networkat snailpace) is yours, you are absolutely right. The software on the phone is granted use to you by license, not by the physicality of the iPhone in your hands. That license — which you agree to by using the iPhone — restricts your right to run software other than what is included in the EULA. Read it!
Those arguing “it’s my phone and I will use as I want” are showing a repeatedly willful ignorance of exactly what they are talking about.
So false!!! Only when ruled by authorities as illegal is it not enforceable. Read InstructICC’s post like 4 posts up so I don’t have to retype basically exactly what he wrote!
The thing I suspecus about is why it takes apple so long to close a loop hole. its not like they do not know what the jailbreak code does, and its not like they could not send a firm ware revision to factor and patch it. I think they like have jailbreaking because it helps sell the phone. (more on that here. http://www.perivision.net/wordpress/?p=2138)
When the iphone first came out, its was all the cool things we could do with jailbroken apps the really sold it, I should know because I was a full on iphone fan boy. But now that Apple is basically the ‘king’ of smartphones, and the API is opening, perhaps they dont need to free promotions jailbreak apps offer.
I was under the impression that the 24kpwn exploit was a fault of the HARDWARE, and so apple couldn’t exactly patch it anywhere besides the manufacturing line.
Asking your mass producer to constantly keep updating a piece of your hardware would get pretty cumbersome, methinks
I was shocked to find a book outlining the jailbreaking process.
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596518561
iPhone Open Application Development
It discusses this strange relationship — how Apple benefits.
It seems that Apple sales are beyond expectations, so now is an acceptable time (in Apple’s mind) for Apple to start protecting its developers and 3rd party developers from piracy?
Gezz… Sorry for the horrible typing. I normally type really fast then go back and correct. I hit send too early this time. :(
I jailbreak because it gives me functionality that I can’t get through Apple. Apps such as SBSettings, Reminder, and Lock Calendar are invaluable to me. I get quick access to settings without closing apps and losing data (SBSettings). I get additional notifications of missed calls and voicemails both through extra vibrates and rings and through tiny icons next to the battery indicator (Reminder). When I’m running late, I don’t have to waste time getting to the right screen, then flipping back to the right screen because I accidentally flipped too far (search screen anyone?), opening the Calendar App, and finding the appointment just so I can figure out what room I’m supposed to be in—instead I just tap the lock button and all of that info is there waiting for me on my lock screen. This is why I jailbreak—I want features.
I’ll also confess to having pirated numerous apps on my phone, but you’ll only find two of them on there right now. I’ve turned to pirating on the iPhone for the same reason I pirate on my computer: I want to use the software, completely unrestricted and under the kinds of conditions that I think I’d regularly use it, before I purchase. I do the same thing with nearly any product.
I spend hours with a baseball glove before purchasing. I even get much of the fun that I’d have owning that glove because a friend and I will spend those hours throwing a ball around in the store. I try shoes on and walk around, jump a couple times, and see what happens if I land on an odd angle. Software may be intangible, but I want to “try it on,” as it were, before I buy it. If I like it, I will buy it (including, so far, a $40 app and a $20 app. I wasn’t sure that they’d be worth it before I spent three weeks using them every day).
I’ll grant that there are many unscrupulous people out there who wouldn’t think twice about using a pirated app. Those people may even count for most of the people who jailbreak. If so, then I’m kinda disappointed with the community.
Remember, though, that many, if not most, of us aren’t in it to get stuff for free—it’s to get stuff that we want, stuff that we can’t get through the regular channels.
I heard that users can return apps and get 100% back, while the developer has to pay back the 100% and Apple keeps the 30% (of which the developer only had 70% to begin with).
I doubt you can justify pirating, under current law.
I’d like a law to allow me to use the device’s capabilities. Like video when the iPhone claimed it could not do video, but a jailbreak app could.
Sure, when a company behaves like this, I may feel like Jon – October 14th, 2009 at 2:34 am CDT said, applying “civil disobedience” to jailbreak to provide functionality that is being held back by Apple for an unknown reason. And then it may lead to pirating apps; but then that’s on me.
Wanna bet that its going to be jailbreaked/cracked? Its always just a factor of time and dedication of crackers to exploit any device.
Here’s the thing for all you anti-jailbreakers – Apple provides no way for an app that doesn’t meet their “high standards” (which depend on who reviews your app?) to be installed on your iPhone. There’s no way for open source programmers to start an iPhone project outside of the apple app store. This alone needs to be addressed. Then, people might stop jailbreaking. Until I can get the equivalent to winterboard, the 5 icon dock, and the 5 column springboard without jailbreaking my phone, I will continue to jailbreak, and will wait for updates until jailbreak has been performed on new versions. This is what I like to call civil disobedience. When did I explicitly agree to the Apple EULA? After I paid my bill, signed my 2 year AT&T contract and brought my phone home and plugged it into iTunes? Don’t know how well that will stand up in court.
Found at: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPhone_3GS_Important_Product_Information_Guide.pdf
iPhone Terms and Conditions
IMPORTANT: BY USING YOUR iPHONE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY
THE FOLLOWING APPLE AND THIRD PARTY TERMS:
A. APPLE iPHONE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
B. NOTICES FROM APPLE
C. GOOGLE MAPS TERMS AND CONDITIONS
D. YOUTUBE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
APPLE INC. iPHONE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
Single Use License
PLEASE READ THIS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (“LICENSE”) CAREFULLY
BEFORE USING YOUR iPHONE OR DOWNLOADING THE SOFTWARE UPDATE
ACCOMPANYING THIS LICENSE. BY USING YOUR iPHONE OR DOWNLOADING
THIS SOFTWARE UPDATE, AS APPLICABLE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE
BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, UNLESS YOU RETURN THE iPHONE
IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLE’S RETURN POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE
TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, DO NOT USE THE iPHONE OR DOWNLOAD
THIS SOFTWARE UPDATE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THE
LICENSE, YOU MAY RETURN THE iPHONE WITHIN THE RETURN PERIOD TO
THE APPLE STORE OR AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR WHERE YOU OBTAINED IT
FOR A REFUND, SUBJECT TO APPLE’S RETURN POLICY FOUND AT
http://www.apple.com/legal/sales_policies/…
Far less important, at least to me is the fact that jailbreaking also appears to void the warranty.
See: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPhone_3GS_Important_Product_Information_Guide.pdf
Nobody reads the fine print because it is usually hidden and made hard to read. Therefore, one cannot be bound by it— at least not by a sane judge. By analogy, if a cop nails a stop sign to the top of a telephone pole where no one will see it, and then tickets anyone who doesn’t stop, it’s the cop who committed a crime (except in mexico of course). Apple clearly does not follow the “don’t be evil” rule and this is why I never give them my money.
If jailbreaking voids the warrenty thats fine. If I needed service I could always restore my device back to the factory defaults. There is no downside to jailbreaking as its alway reversible.
Dan you keep hammering this point about the EULA. The vast majority of users never read the EULA nor would they consider themselves bound by it. It’s not a contract that will ever be enforced in this way.
More generally, EULAs don’t really make any sense for products, because there is no come-back should the EULA be violated. What are going to do, go to somebody’s house, take back the product and refund the money?
For services they make sense, because then the provider is free to terminate the service if the user violates the contract.
Or else what?
Obviously, you’re not a lawyer. EULAs almost always stand up in court and the don’t have to be visible BEFORE purchase.
Without jailbreaking, the iPhone will face scrutiny from the EC here in europe, and apple will possibly be forced to explicitly allow jailbreaking.
That’s what I’m talking about. Give me the Authority to add an app. (I suppose Apple can argue that I have the authority to add an app for a mere $99 per year developer fee).
We all know we have the Power to “add an app we want on the device we paid for”.
But pirates should still be held accountable if they use jailbreaking to get apps that are supposed to be pay apps.
Totally misleading headline. Jailbreaking relies on a security exploit which Apple patched. People are going to attack Apple for doing this but they’re the same people who would bitch to high heaven if Apple left a security hole open too. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
No worries. The market for used & sexy jailbreakable iPhones is now freakin’ AWESOME!!!
When the iPhone first came out, I could see the point of jailbreaking: it was the only way to get the phone to do what you want it to do.
Why would I, an ordinary user, want to jailbreak the phone today? I have everything that I want or need running on my iPhone already. If there is something new that I need or crave, I wait a few weeks, and it is in the Appstore.
Life is too short to break your head over this sort of nonsense.
Really? Try getting a custom ringtone maker or phone theming application from the app store, or video recording program for the iphone 2g or 3g, or tethering, or ……
I don’t need any of those things. Your mileage may vary.
I have other things to do with my life. My iPhone is there to help me with some aspects of that. Ringtones, themes etc are just bling, I won’t spend a second on those. Tethering could be useful for some, but I don’t need it.
@AirHead Andre R.
Apple patched a whole that DOES NOT make the iphone vulnerable in every day use. You are only vulnerable if you iphone is connected to a PC. If your computer is already owned then in theory they could use this to put some malicious software on your iphone…but only if they ALREADY OWNED YOU.
I just got a 3GS 1 week ago. Its jailbroken. Guess I got lucky.
I don’t believe for a minute that bejive has 80% pirates using their app. I know lots of hackers and hundreds of iphone users…NONE jailbreak because Apple updates so ofter (good move Apple). Same reason I don’t typically jailbreak (had to do it this time to try Google Voice App GV…which can use some polish BTW).
Lastly, what is stopping someone like bejive from using purchase information to create login IDs (itunes email) and therefore verify people.
The dev team already found another exploit that they were saving to enable the 3gs to be jailbroken. So it’s back to Apple’s court.
That makes no sense. They made an exploit for code that didn’t exist? That’s like saying you can break into a car that hasn’t been thought of yet.
Nice article… When apple iphone32gb come out, did a good business in maket..
I come across this amazing link.. Huge apple application store.. Click on item for details.
http://www.justcompareit.com/s~q-apple-application.aspx?ag=3
I was actually considering buying the iPhone 3GS with a plan, but apple’s actions to block jailbreaking is actually influencing me to reconsider other phones… It’s silly that Apple is undercutting part of their own fan-base thus loosing sales. It makes absolute 1-trillion % no-sense whatsoever…
I read that over 100% of the people who jailbreak their iPhone pirate all of their software.
Now the real question is, “How many people actually jailbreak their iPhone?”
A thousand? Ten thousand? Millions? Most likely, really, at the end of the day, seriously, maybe a couple thousand or so?
Even if the touted 80% of Beehive’s users are pirates, what does that amount to, 80? 110 maybe? Let’s be generous, 315, tops. (And besides, if they can tell who is the pirate, why the heck haven’t they cut them off?)(Because they can’t, they are looking at sales numbers, not actual users.)
Yes the nonsense above is just that, nonsense.
Anybody getting my point here?
All of these numbers are meaningless as they have no accountability.
If we could get to the truth, the devs that cry the loudest, generally have the poorest sales (for what ever reason), and crying piracy is a good way of covering up poor sales. It’s easier to convince an investor that poor sales was due to piracy rather than a poor product.
(I forget, what do they call it when both sides know the argument is bogus, but neither will admit it. Politics? Diplomacy? Professional Wrestling?)
This excuse is as old as the computer is.
I don’t think you’re quite getting this.
First, I doubt that 100% of jailbreakers pirate applications, but I guess it would be a large majority. However, the 80% of pirated applications that Beejive reports is 80% of /all/ of their users. As a customer of Beejive – it’s an awesome application – I would guess that they would have easily over 1,000 users and probably much more. So I don’t see where you’re getting this 315 crap, it would be more like 800, and that’s a fairly large number of possibly paying customers.
Now, before you all shout at me, I agree that pirated downloads does not equal in any way the possible amount of purchases, but I think in many cases, most people who would be happy to for out 99c for an app would be unwilling to fork out $9.99 on an app (or however much it is in the American store, it’s 12.99 in the Australian store).
No Nick, no yelling here.
Yes, my numbers are crap. There are, like I believe many of the numbers people bandy about are, totally fictitious.
I’ve never used Beejive, don’t know anything about it, but it was mentioned above has having an 80% piracy rate, so that’s the one I went with for an example.
I pretty much agree with you.
Back to my comment about politics, wrestling, etc.
Pirated downloads do not, and have never, ever, ever, equaled a direct correlation to lost paid software sales. (Notice I said -direct-.) Companies have always known this, but they will never ever admit. (see my previous comment about investors)
The vast majority of people who download pirated software (of any type) would never, ever have purchased it in the first play. And of that group, the vast majority never use it at all. (And notice here I said -majority-, meaning that there is a percentage who will use it.)
I once knew a guy who had the most impressive game collection I’ve ever seen. Thousands of games. All downloaded.
Thing is though, he didn’t play them, he just downloaded them. That was his hobby, downloading software. Some people collect watches and old toasters, some people collect game files. Go figure.
Oh, and as the obligatory disclaimer, I do not condone the illegal download of software.
(Besides my wife would kill me! She’s a software developer)
I agree, most jailbreakers have no idea how to pirate apps. Hell, i have been doing it for 2 years now and only just a couple of weeks ago did i discover Installous and the real way to “pirate” apps on the iphone. The jailbreaking/unlocking process is fairly involved and requires more computer knowledge than the average person has, and the pirating process is even more complicated, of all the jailbroken iphones ive seen, only a tiny handful of them have had the software necessary to “pirate” apps
I am an iPhone user and my iPhone is jailbroken. I have also never pirated an application. So this 100% statement is simply not true. And there are two storefronts for buying apps via Cydia and Rock, which are claiming to make some money. So it seems like people will buy apps, even if their device is jailbroken.
guys, i think this person is being sarcastic. just a thought. =P
“over 100%” had me laughing
I don’t use an iPhone but eventually I will need a new phone and I had been planning on considering the iPhone.
In this Recession, I can’t justify buying a non-jailbreakable phone. I don’t have any intention to run pirated software but rather I need to use prepaid minutes.
This prevention of jailbreaking means that eventually, the option of a used iPhone that works with T-Mobile may disappear. Along with it, my interest in Apple’s products.
You are confusing jailbreaking and unlocking.
Not when unlocking requires jailbreaking :-)
The way I see it, Apple caters for all types of consumers – from people with limited computational knowledge to advanced programmers.
While I do agree that quite a few apps have been denied for completely stupid reasons (such as Tweetie 1.3 being denied because “fuck” showed up in the trends menu). However, Google Voice, for instance, interrupted the iPhone workflow and could potentially confuse users, which may not be a problem for some, but confusing the basic users would spread a horrible reputation.
Jailbreaking would never be a big priority for me as themes are often hideous, and I don’t have the absolute need for some applications. But it is the piracy (especially on the app store, where most publishers are tiny, 4 or so companies), which is a big problem as I see it, that causes me to disrespect any sort of jailbreaking.
Android did excite me, but Google recently has had a tendency to half-ass things, Android being an example, and probably Google Chrome OS – but I can still hope.
In summary, Apple has every right to do this and should be, as pirating could easily damage the app store economy and deter potential developers.
Except, you have to explicitly INSTALL Google Voice, it doesn’t come on the phone when you get it out of the box, and most n00b users wouldn’t get it unless they knew why they needed it (had a google voice account)
So the reason for rejecting GV is still stupid.
One more reason to go Android
Like all this BS about Android? What is this?! I don’t think I’m alone when I say I have YET to see anything worthwhile about this OS, let alone any notable apps. Just because some chump predicted that it will be bigger than the iPhone? Oh! well look I’m a nobody and I’m going to predict that a meteor will fall on Earth tomorrow. Does that mean it will happen? NOPE! So just stop your wishful thinking about a platform that has yet to prove it’s value. Remember who the pioneers of multi-touch are, remember who ALLLLL these mobile carriers have been struggling to catch up with for years now. Sure as hell ain’t Google, HTC, or LG.
1. The reasons Android will be bigger have little to do with the available apps but the openess and easy adopt-ability offered to hardware manufacturers and networks
2. Multi-touch wasn’t developed by Apple. They simply appropriated it.
“… but the openess and easy adopt-ability offered to hardware manufacturers and networks…”
Who then proceed to develop their own features and interfaces that fragement the “Android” market. They also tend to lock down their own phones and feature sets.
There may in fact come a day when more phones are out there based on some version of Android, but I sincerely doubt that any one carrier or version will be dominant.
I see many worthwhile things about the OS because I use it everyday.
Android is just cooler. Stop being an Apple dunce and get with the robot….
It’s funny how all the people who think Android will be bigger than the iPhone are Linux users. Your mother, father, brother or sister aren’t going to use something that isn’t easy to use just because they can run open source software on it.
Have you ever even used an Android phone? Google some vids on this please before you make such a brazen generalization. Especially look up HTCs Android Sense UI. I don’t know about your mother, father, brother or sister, but mine’s will have no problem using Android.
what carp!
if 80% of Beejive’s users are using their servers without having paid for the app… surely there is an easier way to validate the users even after they download the app… give them a key from your website and disallow concurrent use, etc…
total hogswash given as a possible reason to keep iphones locked!
ya, there are ways to lock down client apps. for example, client ssl certs can be provisioned on a per install basis. this would definitely bring that 80% number down.
If you give them a key, they have to enter it in. That’s harder, and you need to write server scripts to handle all of that database moving. Plus, who do you give a key to? How do you know who’s purchased the app so you can give them a key?
I only pirate apps that aren’t available in my country. If they didn’t enforce border restrictions, I wouldn’t be forced to do it!
Sometimes i have to say that I “hate apple”. If it wasn’t for there stupid smart phone, and I would have never thought about purchasing their phone. They really suck. I guess they just want to control people life by not getting what they want in their phones. LET US LIVE APPLE!
Bummer dude. I plan on keeping my current 3GS for as long as I can! I just got the MMS/Tethering exploit from SinFulIphone repository and am quite content!
KEss
http://www.true-privacy.net.tc
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
Bottom line:
X number of pirated apps != X number of lost sales
In some (but probably not most) cases piracy actually boosts sales. The mere fact that when they are talking about pirating “Software Name Here”, it’s free publicity. I would put out a (fake?) press release saying “Hey my app is pirated 94% of the time it’s sooo good”.
Piracy does hurt sales, but don’t believe the hype.
Piracy definitely hurts sales. Sure, they get free publicity, but that publicity is not to pay for the app. It’s to pirate the app again. So it’s worthless publicity from the developer’s point of view and therefore not worth losing a lot of sales.
Typical Apple move. They’re as bad as Microsoft was back in the day.
I am a fan of Apple, and I never pirate software, and yet I jailbreak to use Google Voice Mobile and SBSettings. Just sayin… there are honest ppl out here that jailbreak to use the software we want on the device that we PAID for and continue to PAY a high monthly fee for crappy service.
Why? It’s a great device with very few that compare… until Android gets a bit better ;)
Yeah, I totally agree, but people like you are getting rarer and rarer.
I would like to see a jail break for this too….
intersting unknow abt iphones
internally and externally
http://bit.ly/3uabPm
Thanks
Suresh.ks
Apple is the mouse in this situation.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970001.htm
“and in Beejive’s case, your servers”
THE ONLY THING THAT CAN BE PIRATED are stand-alone applications. Don’t want people pirating your stuff, require online authentication. That’s right, if they pay online through your servers and you offer reasonably secure online authentication the application and/or service CANNOT BE PIRATED.
Basically, the last paragraph of the article completely invalidates the only valid argument in the article: piracy. The iPhone is a networked device. Simply authenticate the user to use the app and the problem is solved forever.
Jailbroken iPhones are good just like linux is good: let us write our own software and decide if we want to make it FOSS. The apple restrictions are the only reason I do not own an iPhone. I own an iPod (classic, 120GB) because I can use it with my linux machine. I do not own an HDMI capable video card because HDCP is not available under linux unless I install proprietary software and agree to BS licensing. I do not buy 24″ – 30″ monitors that do not have DVI connections for that same reason.
Again, that requires lots of time coding to finish a simple authentication feature. That’s time (and money) that the developer could apply to actually improving the app, not stopping piracy.
That’s just dumb.
Bust the “pirates” if that is the actual reason for this.
Just because Apple is slow to “bless” an ap, everyone is punished.
I have had my iPhone 3g jailbroken for several months now, and it was done simply to gain functionality. Several applications (Bite SMS, Music Controls, Backgrounder, etc) allow for mutitasking options until apple comes up with something better, which they always do.
As far as pirating apps, i can see both sides. Some people just don’t wan to pay, and some people use it to test full functionality of apps before they buy. The people that just don’t want to pay are in the wrong completely. If you are in the later group it is still wrong, but I can see your arguement to an extent. No one wants to spend money on an expensive app only to find out it was a bad app.
Therefore, I propose an option. Instead of giving out free versions of apps which are limited in features and functionality. Why not give the full version of apps with trial periods. After 14 days or so of using the app, you’re given an option to buy a full license or delete the app.
I know that someone will undoubtably crack this process also, but maybe it’ll cut back on some of the piracy.
For everyone else who is just pirating apps to get out of paying, I hope you get caught. Not that it’ll be a large punishment, but you are ruining it for those of us who uses jailbreaking as strictly increasing functionality.
Therefore, I propose an option.
+1 billion
iPhones sold in New Zealand must be jailbroken because it’s illegal to sell a phone that’s tied to only one carrier. Vodafone has a contract with Apple but it’s not exclusive (that is illegal too) so to use your iPhone on the new XT network Telecom have.
Belgium has similar laws I think. Telecom’s official answer regarding unlisted devices: “A number of WCDMA 850 MHz capable mobiles will work on the XT network as long as they have been unlocked by their original provider. Telecom will not restrict which phones can be used on the XT Mobile Network so if you purchase a Telecom SIM you can do with it what you like, but Telecom cannot guarantee the customer experience of a phone that is not sourced from and supported by Telecom.”
By latest statistics, roughly 8% of the total iphone/ipod touch users jailbreak their devices. And not even half of those pirate apps. Truly, a massive problem for developers – NOT SELLING TO THE HUGE MAJORITY THAT DOES NOT PIRATE APPS
Can you prove it? No, you can’t.