The Apple iPhone is a hot device right now. Its newest release, the iPhone 4, has sold 3 million units in just a few days after release. Apple’s PR people (and CEO, for that matter) say that they control the software that goes on the device in order to make certain that the user has the best possible experience; they produce a fast, stable system, and want to keep it that way. Others suggest that Apple maintains this control in order to maximize their own profits. No matter which assertion you accept, some don’t want to live in Apple’s ‘walled garden’, even though they love the hardware the company has made.
For those people, there is the process called “jailbreaking”. Jailbreaking is the name of the process that ‘opens up’ the iPhone’s OS so that the user can poke and prod around in it. This was widely considered illegal from the beginning, but the Library Of Congress recently declared an exception to the DMCA with regard to mobile phones. Now the process itself is legal; however, Apple has said that they will not honor the warranty of jailbroken devices.
The iPhone is a mobile device that is, in fact, a tiny computer. It has processing power that is greater than that of desktop computers from just a few years ago, and an incredible display. The basic operating system is derived from the Mac OSX operating system, with much of the same core. It’s natural that some people might want to use it in ways Apple didn’t think of, or to produce applications that don’t meet Apple’s model. Jailbreaking is the process that can be used to accomplish this.
In addition, the apps available to jailbroken phones are not vetted by Apple at all. They appear to have no required standards, so there is much greater variance in quality. Some suggest a greater risk of malware or trojans for such applications.
If you identify a specific reason for jailbreaking that’s important to you, it’s a legal, useful option - as long as you’re willing to accept the possible consequences. If, however, you’re not comfortable with the idea of living on the technological edge, live without the net of a warranty, you should probably stick with your phone the way Apple intended it.
What You need to know before you Jailbreak your iPhone
You want to jailbreak your iPhone?
The following important information will save you time money and stress. When jailbreaking iPhone's you must be careful not to go into the fray armed with just a few videos from YouTube. YouTube is full of videos created by young kids who are jailbreaking their iPod or perhaps even on occasion an iPhone. These videos however rarely if ever go into the detail of explaining the configuration of their computer and the condition of the device that they are jailbreaking. This can lead the viewers into a false sense of security and impending disaster - more about this later. When things will inevitably go wrong who can the viewer fall back on to help them? The YouTube video does not answer back and nine times out of ten the creator of the video will not have the skills to understand anything close to what is needed to rectify the problem that their video creates.