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If Apple eliminated jailbreaking for good...

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
...They definitely would see a huge dip in sales of the iPhone. Look what they did to the second generation iPod touch. That thing STILL doesn't have an untethered jailbreak. What would happen if the next generation iPhone has hardware changes that make it even harder to crack than the 2nd generation touch? If they did, people would be able to make a killing off the 3G model by advertising it as (Jailbreakable and Unlockable). It kinda makes you think a little bit. Does Apple really want jailbreaking to stop for good? I wonder if they want to keep jailbreaking alive just to sell more iPhones, but not encourage jailbreaking (they call it illegal).

The reason I bring this up is that I recently heard someone say that if it wasn't for jailbreaking, they wouldn't be able to stand using the iPhone the way it comes.
 
I agree, The value of the Edge iPhone shot through the roof until the 3G was unlockable.

They also didn't say 'illegal'. Just not quite legal. It's a fuzzy gray area.
 
TheSpaz said:
Look what they did to the second generation iPod touch. That thing STILL doesn't have an untethered jailbreak.
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Isn't the iPod still selling very well, despite the recession? Aren't you hurting your argument by bringing this up?

TheSpaz said:
Does Apple really want jailbreaking to stop for good?
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I've never thought they wanted that. I've yet to see proof that they do.

TheSpaz said:
(they call it illegal).
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No, they called it 'not legal.' The two are VERY different things.
 
I don't think people care about jailbreaking and unlocking an iPod touch. I was just using that as an example of how hard Apple could make it to jailbreak. You still have to connect it to a computer to restart it (tethered). I think there are a lot more people buying iPhones to jailbreak than buying iPod touch's (for playing games?).
 
TheSpaz said:
I think there are a lot more people buying iPhones to jailbreak than buying iPod touch's (for playing games?).
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What are you basing that on?

Last quarter Apple sold 22 million iPods and 4.4 million iPhonds.

Granted, that 22 million includes ALL iPods, not just the touch version, but I think it's reasonable to guess that there are more iPod Touches being sold than iPhones by a wide margin.
 
TheSpaz said:
I don't think people care about jailbreaking and unlocking an iPod touch. I was just using that as an example of how hard Apple could make it to jailbreak. You still have to connect it to a computer to restart it (tethered). I think there are a lot more people buying iPhones to jailbreak than buying iPod touch's (for playing games?).
Click to expand...

This is a thread?

You really have nothing more important to think about than speculating on what you think "most" other people might think about hacking their telephones?

Find a purpose in life, kid.
 
TheSpaz said:
I don't think people care about jailbreaking and unlocking an iPod touch. I was just using that as an example of how hard Apple could make it to jailbreak. You still have to connect it to a computer to restart it (tethered). I think there are a lot more people buying iPhones to jailbreak than buying iPod touch's (for playing games?).[/QUOca

can you tell me how to unlock a touch? i just know how to jailbreak
Click to expand...
 
Don't know a single person to be honest who is even interested in Jailbreaking their phones - more than enough functionality without the need for doing it. Its one of those overhyped things that some kiddies like bragging about like with the PSP hacking etc.
 
I don't know. I don't think that a stark drop in sales would happen. Sure there would be some drop, as with any "restrictive" change to a product line, but I believe that the drop would overall be negligible. I myself am stock, and enjoy it quite well.
 
can you tell me how to unlock a touch? i just know how to jailbreak.

Ugh. What I meant was that people care about unlocking and jailbreaking the iPhone... not the iPod touch. I think kids are the primary user base of the iPod touch and they just like to play games on it. Look at the popularity of the App Store... the games are the biggest section and top downloads are GAMES. I think a lot of those people are using iPods. The iPod touch is even geared towards games... look at the ads. What I'm saying is... the fact that the iPod touch is still selling great because most people aren't buying them with the intention of jailbreaking... especially since the iPod touch isn't a phone, there's no unlocking.

Now, what if the "iPhone" wasn't unlockable OR jailbreakable? That would make a big difference in MY OPINION in sales. Remember how much money people were paying for 1st gen iPhones on eBay?

You guys are taking this thread the wrong way.
 
john316 said:
Don't know a single person to be honest who is even interested in Jailbreaking their phones - more than enough functionality without the need for doing it. Its one of those overhyped things that some kiddies like bragging about like with the PSP hacking etc.
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I would NEVER have an iphone if i couldn´t jailbreak it. But i do want a proper smartphone, not a toy. Am i dishonest? I think what you said there is one of the biggest ammounts of BS i have faced in alot of time.
 
TheSpaz said:
can you tell me how to unlock a touch? i just know how to jailbreak.

Ugh. What I meant was that people care about unlocking and jailbreaking the iPhone... not the iPod touch. I think kids are the primary user base of the iPod touch and they just like to play games on it. Look at the popularity of the App Store... the games are the biggest section and top downloads are GAMES. I think a lot of those people are using iPods. The iPod touch is even geared towards games... look at the ads. What I'm saying is... the fact that the iPod touch is still selling great because most people aren't buying them with the intention of jailbreaking... especially since the iPod touch isn't a phone, there's no unlocking.

Now, what if the "iPhone" wasn't unlockable OR jailbreakable? That would make a big difference in MY OPINION in sales. Remember how much money people were paying for 1st gen iPhones on eBay?

You guys are taking this thread the wrong way.
Click to expand...


I know A LOT of people that would not have bought the iPhone, myself included. I like using my phone on whatever network I choose. So without the jailbreak/unlock option, the iPhone would definitely be less popular. I mean what's the point of having a GSM phone if you can't pop in any local sim card when traveling. I like owning my phone, not leasing it from Apple and/or AT&T. Jailbreaking/unlocking enables me to do just that.
 
lostprophet894 said:
Could you explain this for me? I'm interested in what the difference is (not calling you wrong. Yet.).
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1) Legal = Best Buy could take an iPhone and put their own OS on it before selling it.

2) Not Legal = Companies aren't allowed to mess with the iPhone software like they could in a "legal" world. Users may void their warrenty, but that's all. They're free to do whatever they want besides that one restriction.

3) Illegal = If Apple finds a jailbroken phone on a user, they have the right to take it back. They may even punish you in other ways.

- - -

Currently the situation is "2- not legal." Apple has been making moves to prevent "1- legal" from becoming the standard. (And I agree with that.)

Many folks think that those moves mean that Apple wants to move to "3- Illegal" but I think those folks are crazy. They just want things to stay the way they are and not move towards "legal."

EDIT: Note that in the current #2 world, Apple can offer optional updates to iTunes or iPhones that disable (or don't work with) jailbreaking, but I don't believe they can put out a forced iTunes update that prevents jailbroken phones from connecting to iTunes. (Never tested in court, but I suspect that this is what the court would rule.) In a #3 world, they COULD do that. That's a big difference, and if you never see this happen (and it hasn't, yet) then that proves we're still living in a #2 world.
 
it's highly unlikely that apple would be able to find a way to prevent jailbreaking, even if they tried.
 
When Iphone makes their next gen phone jail break proof (i truly believe they will in June), Iphone sales will drop after hackers find out they can't jail break it, and word gets out to the general public.

Devs/hackers (whatever you want to call them) will just find another phone OS to exploit.
 
TheSpaz said:
...I recently heard someone say that if it wasn't for jailbreaking, they wouldn't be able to stand using the iPhone the way it comes.
Click to expand...
I know I've said that here, and it still stands. If Apple truly disabled jailbreaking, with no workarounds, I'd drop my iPhone like a hot potato. Functionality and ease and pleasure of use would plummet. I'd even pay the ETF if I had to.
 
For me the iPhone would not be worth the cost/monthly bill if I were unable to jailbreak.
 
I would definitely not be planning to buy one if that was the case, since being a teen, I HAVE to have a video phone and MMS.
 
Modding makes a huge difference in the demand of any product. Im an avid game console modder, so i see the effects all the time.

For example, I wanted to mod my psp a while ago. The firmware i had installed was not able to be hacked yet, but rumor was that progress was being made very quickly. One day there was a "hello world" released using a gamesave hack with the game Lumines. I went to gamestop that day and bought a copy for myself for $7. The very next day the full hack was completed. I hacked my psp just to make sure it worked then called gamestop and asked if they had any copies. They had 2 which i went and bought for $15 and $17, totaling $32. I put one copy on ebay and sold it for $65 to a fellow in Portugal and the other sold for $30 locally. In less than a week the value of Lumines went from $7 to $30-60 depending on location.

My friend bought an iPhone only because it could be jailbroken. In fact, the day he bought it he came over and i jailbroke it for him. He told me that if the iPhone was completely locked down to apple he would never have bought it because they limit the device so much so they can maintain control over it and the users.
 
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