I had to spend some time educating myself with the pros and cons of jailbreaking an iPhone. I have heard all of the hoopla over the joys of jailbreaking and unlocking, but I have also recently read about how apple feels that it is illegal to do so.
Jailbreaking your iPhone allows you to install third party apps onto your device without the aid of the app store. What this also does is allow you to install apps that so not adhere to apple’s SDK license. This seemed like a Fantastic idea because this allows developers to fully exploit the power of the platform.
So great, I can install an NES emulator! But because developers have a power to so anything they like they can also do very bad things. The Kate app and associated Rip Dev app broke the ability to dial phone numbers!! It took a little research to find out that there are widespread issues like that so you just have to be aware of such things if you want to go the jailbreaking route.
i don’t know that it’s such a great idea to jailbreak an iPhone anymore. there are so many fantastic apps from the app store, the risk is not worth the reward anymore, IMO. and come on. do you really *need* an NES emulator for your phone? well, i guess *some people* do….. haha. :p
ah, gg, the ever-faithful apple evangelist! 😉
there are a lot of fantastic apps in the app store, i agree! and the concept of the app store in general is so revolutionary that i really applaud apple’s innovation and ability to get such a thing launched on a mobile device with carrier acceptance.
my biggest gripes with the app store is apple’s draconian control over what gets approved on the app store. the iPhone SDK limits the potential of what the iPhone can do and only lets developers create apps that apple wants them to make.
there are some very attractive jailbroken-only apps that i’m sure some users just could not live without.