Hi BT gang, I stumbled across a very well written article about jailbreaking and piracy. It is well worth your time, trust me and be sure to pass it to close friends, devs or whoever you like to. http://www.imore.com/2012/05/26/jailbreak-app-piracy-cost-theft/

Unfortunately Jailbreaking is somehow associated with doing something bad. If it was called Stockcaring as in taking a street vehicle and modifying it, perhaps people would better understand what it's about. I don't understand how an iOS developer wouldn't want to jailbreak. It gives you the ability to provide better apps. As a publisher you should jailbreak to understand how your apps fare on jailbroken devices. As a user you can add needed security and tools to your device. You can rob a liquor store with either a hotrod or a street car, and probably more likely to succeed with a street car, so having a hotrod is not about stealing. To develop apps for a small group of users may be expensive if you publish in iTunes. And alternative is to publish a web app or a app that's installed on jailbroken devices. Fred

People tend to miss a critical sentence in that article: "Apple owns the iOS platform." Plain and simple. If you don't like the way Apple has implemented their OS, then write your own. Don't like their level of security? Then provide an OS that does it better. Think apps are over priced? Then develop an OS where you can give them away for free. "Apple owns the iOS platform." If YOU developed an OS, and it was closed like most OS's are, and people started hacking it to make up for your "deficiencies," how would YOU feel? Would it be OK then? "Apple owns the iOS platform." It's not yours. If you don't like it, then don't use it. The moral implications of breaking into and messing with other peoples work are obvious, but often disregarded by people in this discussion. Tons and tons and tons of engineers at Apple put all their energies into producing iOS...for better or worse. Don't forget about them. I am not an Apple lover. In fact, there is a lot about Apple I absolutely detest. And, there is a lot about Android that I absolutely detest. And Windows. And Linux. And VMware. And every other OS that I have used...and as a software/hardware tester in the business, I have used many of them. But one truth remains: if I want to use them, I need to follow their rules. That means paying for the OS, not hacking it outside the confines established by them, and generally respecting the work of the people behind it. I couldn't say that many years ago, when I thought everything was fair game. But fortunately I've grown up since then. Just because people can and have jailbroke iOS does not mean it should be encouraged or pursued. That's a flawed argument in many ways. "Apple owns the iOS platform." Enough said. Mark

Interesting read. In the 1980s (I'm dating myself), I was a kid using a Commodore 64 and an old school Apple. I got my first computer that I really bought for myself, a Packard Bell 386SX-25, and I thought that thing could NEVER fill up an 80MB hard drive. It didn't have a stock installed modem, so I bought a 4800 baud internal modem card and installed it myself. The thing is, I thought I was being sneaky, sort of black hat stuff. When I heard that I could get an unlocked and jailbroken iPhone for my T-Mobile service, I sort of felt the same way. Hmmmm

@Mark In July of 2010, the United States government ruled that jailbreaking is legal and and does not violate copyright, as Apple had previously claimed. So it all depends whose rules you are following. Which rule is higher the U.S. laws or Apple Law? Most people don't understand the difference between jailbreaking and pirating. If I jailbreak a device doesn't mean I'm going to download applications for free that usually cost money. All my devices are jailbroken, however all my apps come from the AppStore. I enjoy the customizing factor vs being locked down to whatever apple gives me. That's all :)

Interesting read. In the 1980s (I'm dating myself), I was a kid using a Commodore 64 and an old school Apple. I got my first computer that I really bought for myself, a Packard Bell 386SX-25, and I thought that thing could NEVER fill up an 80MB hard drive. It didn't have a stock installed modem, so I bought a 4800 baud internal modem card and installed it myself. The thing is, I thought I was being sneaky, sort of black hat stuff. When I heard that I could get an unlocked and jailbroken iPhone for my T-Mobile service, I sort of felt the same way. Hmmmm

Interesting read. In the 1980s (I'm dating myself), I was a kid using a Commodore 64 and an old school Apple. I got my first computer that I really bought for myself, a Packard Bell 386SX-25, and I thought that thing could NEVER fill up an 80MB hard drive. It didn't have a stock installed modem, so I bought a 4800 baud internal modem card and installed it myself. The thing is, I thought I was being sneaky, sort of black hat stuff. When I heard that I could get an unlocked and jailbroken iPhone for my T-Mobile service, I sort of felt the same way. Hmmmm

Hey @coderx, I can see your point there. I think we can ALL agree that jailbreaking to get apps for free is just plain wrong. And personally, I'd never recommend to a customer to jailbreak their phone so I can avoid paying Apple their developer fee. I guess I can concede to some potentially legit reasons for jailbreaking, but in the end it seems like a fine line. Mark

Hey @gonorthwest. I honestly dont think it's a fine line at all in regards to JB. Cydia has sooo many interested tweaks that demonstrates future of iOS. Heck half of the tweaks were "stolen" by Apple and used in iOS5. Every iOS release introduces some sort of tweak that was in Cydia first. I personally think the jailbreaking community is the one thats re-inventing the iOS. Apple should be thankful it exists. But I'm glad we all agree that "stealing" apps and not paying for it is wrong. :)

"Apple owns the iOS platform." Perhaps they should lease their devices instead of selling them. Fred

"Perhaps they should lease their devices instead of selling them." You own the device, you do not own the operating systems on the device, its licensed to you, same as microsoft.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/02/20/saurik-explains-legal-jailbreaking/ ^ guy who created cydia http://boingboing.net/2012/02/08/americans-explain-why-jailbrea.html David buzztouchmods.com

I just spent 5 minutes typing up a response, and then deleted it, so am totally going to sit this one out. Too many emotions...too many people entrenched in their point of view (including myself!)...to many differing (and somewhat correct opinions). The courts have their opinions, the users do as well, and so do the vendors. Only time will tell who is "right!" Mark

While jailbreaking in order to tweak your device is fine by me ( in the way that you break it, you no longer need official support and can't throw rocks at the OS because it is not performing like it used to be. So it is a matter of choice), I can't say the same for pirating a $0.99 app. I can't imagine anybody that cannot afford to pay $0.99 in order to get the app he likes and at the same time support the developer into building more and better apps, or keep updating the current one. I know that the app business is a billion dollar one, but this is visible only on the other side of the app, the developer side. On the user side, we only see $0.99, $2.99 and up. We, the small developers( I am one, but surely hope that there are some that can disagree with me :) ) struggle to surface and get a taste of what living through app development is like. I don't know if my apps were pirated already, but tend to think that no, as most of them are free, but it would be a blow for me to know I worked hard for an app, payed good money for different services,got some success and because of the recent visibility in the app store, the pirates decided that this app should be made free. For sure, at this moment I would be reluctant to continue polishing or updating the app, because I would feel that the users does not deserve it. By this, of course, I would hit also the legit buyers, and they will leave my app as well with no incentive to use it or spreading the word about the app. The buyers / pirates balance should be much in favor of the buyers in order for me to keep the same level of enthusiasm. Final words, for the potential users: Buy the stuff you like! You will be supporting your dev to create great apps/games or whatever, that you will continue to enjoy. You will give the dev the confidence he needs to continue. It is also a matter of respect. If somebody would come at the end of the month and cash in your payroll and you could do nothing to stop it, you would finally leave that company and move to another biz. Don't take for granted everything that life throws at you. And this is true for payed material(apps, food, cars, home) as well as for the things life give us for free(health, family, luck) Every thing has a price, and by stealing 0.99 from a dev you are only pushing the app business in the monopole direction where only the big guys with big money can afford to stay in the game no matter if their apps are pirated or not. My 99 cents.

While Jailbreaking may be taking something that apple has provided and using it in another way, i believe it is in no way different then going in and buying a vehicle, then modifying the interior, and the sound system to your liking before you "own" the car outright. I personally have purchased Several iPhones, several iPods, and a MacBook Air, and honestly Apple can thank jailbreaking for all but 1 of the iPods and 1 of the iPhones. While an iPod touch 1 Gen. user i had mine shipped to Afghanistan while i was deployed there, while i loved what the iPod touch could do, i didn't like the the lack of customizable options for what i payed. After returning home I purchased 2 iPhone 3g's. After learning of how to jailbreak i did 1 of the 3g's then droid released the Droid X and i switched platforms for the easier use and customizing and the jailbreak had been overridden by one of Apples Updates. After returning to Apple and Jailbreaking my next 2 iPhone 4's i really started to understand how the technology was used and how i could use it to my advantage over a "stock" iPhone. Since then Ive invested thousands more in Apple products, including software, hardware, computers and phones. Now I'm on Buzztouch.com learning how to create my own apps, and soon get my Apple Developers license to post apps I have in the works, which if it wasn't for jailbreaking i would have never gotten to into this hobby/profession/ Art form!

@KBMallonee, you just don't get it, Apple's devices are so good and do everything anyone needs (as decided by Apple) they don't need your tweaking and modifications. So, sell them off and come back to Android. Besides when you get your hands on the new Samsung you'll then have the best mobile device ever. (Without a short disclaimer) See iPhone ads (with disclaimer) vs Samsung ads (no disclaimer) for details. Fred

we will see when it comes out but I'm pretty set up with my Apple right now, i may create some apps for android also but only after i feel comfortable with where My iPhone apps are going.