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What are the chances that Apple will start bricking Jailbroken phones

You do own the equipment - but you lease the software as per EULA - so technically, Apple COULD make the OS unoperable for jailbroken phones. They haven't damaged the equipment. The problem for users is - there's no OS you could put onto an iPhone (right?) So it would render the physical device all but useless. Again - technically - it's within their right to make the OS not available if it's been tampered with.

That being said - I don't think they'd ever do that. Bad PR and to some degree it's a great cat and mouse game. My guess is that an OS can and never will be 100 percent secure which means that someone will always find a hole and Apple will always repair/have another. The JB community and Apple both benefit by being able to test their security and make it an even better puzzle.
 
ViViDboarder said:
Haha, this whole thread (except for one person) has no clue what is even going on.
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You are right that I have no clue about the Xbox, but what difference does that make. The Xbox is really not the point of this thread, and the OP's misunderstanding of what Microsoft has done with Xboxes is irrelevant to the central question of whether Apple might start "bricking" iPhones.
 
samcraig said:
You do own the equipment - but you lease the software as per EULA - so technically, Apple COULD make the OS unoperable for jailbroken phones. They haven't damaged the equipment. The problem for users is - there's no OS you could put onto an iPhone (right?) So it would render the physical device all but useless. Again - technically - it's within their right to make the OS not available if it's been tampered with.

That being said - I don't think they'd ever do that. Bad PR and to some degree it's a great cat and mouse game. My guess is that an OS can and never will be 100 percent secure which means that someone will always find a hole and Apple will always repair/have another. The JB community and Apple both benefit by being able to test their security and make it an even better puzzle.
Click to expand...

Jailbreakers would consider the Vanilla OS Unoperable. The fact that the community is already able to modify the OS to ignore Apple's checks I'm pretty sure Apple "disabling" the OS wouldn't last very long :D

But like you said... I doubt this would ever happen.
 
thelatinist said:
You are right that I have no clue about the Xbox, but what difference does that make. The Xbox is really not the point of this thread, and the OP's misunderstanding of what Microsoft has done with Xboxes is irrelevant to the central question of whether Apple might start "bricking" iPhones.
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To be honest, I know that MS didn't brick the consoles - they simply banned from Xbox Live but maybe I didn't make that clear.
 
I dont know, day after all those xbox bannings happened, MS bricked my xbox360 with 3 flashing red lights...

Conspiracy or not...
 
nehunte said:
But you OWN the equipment, not Apple. Microsoft did it because the only reason people were hacking their xbox's were to play downloaded games. There are a lot of jailbreakers out there that just want the ringtones, SBS settings, and themes. Something Apple should already have on the phone!!

Anyway, I see Apple in a world of hurt if they try to do this. Just my opinion though.
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You might own the equipment, but not the OS or the service the is requires to make the Iphone fully functionable.

So unless you figure out a way to load an open Linux OS or pirated Iphone OS on the Iphone, it will be pretty much useless if Apple decided to brick it, which that would have everyright in doing so.

Apple would never do something that stupid though.
 
tonynz said:
To be honest, I know that MS didn't brick the consoles - they simply banned from Xbox Live but maybe I didn't make that clear.
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i was going to post that until i kept reading and came upon this....

i don't think there is a comparison to bricking iphones vs banning modded xbox consoles from playing on xbox live (i.e. cheaters).... the owners of all those banned consoles are still very much capable of playing single player... they can just no longer cheat and play against legimate players on live.... i say more power to microsoft for that move!

now jailbroken iphones.... that doesn't hurt me... (a modded xbox playing against me can "hurt" my standings in a game, though)....
 
thep33t said:
I dont know, day after all those xbox bannings happened, MS bricked my xbox360 with 3 flashing red lights...

Conspiracy or not...
Click to expand...

coincidence..... :(

just like all the posts you see just after a new release where people try to claim that a certain game gave their xbox the RROD.... (currently, of course it's COD:MW2 that is killing machines.) nevermind that i probably would have died at about the same time regardless of what game you were playing (or whether or not bannings took place!)

sorry to hear about our xbox, though.... is it sill within warranty, i hope? (we just replaced our original 20G version with the new L.E MW2 version... suhweet!)
 
tonynz said:
Hi guys,

What are the chances that Apple will follow what Microsoft is doing and start to brick jailbroken phones via itunes via serial numbers.

Surely it won't be hard!
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Follow Microsoft how? MS didn't brick anyone's Xboxes. If you are referring to them banning folks from online play, that's what they did but they did not "brick" their boxes. :)

So in other words, 0 chance Apple does anything. :)
 
bytethese said:
Follow Microsoft how? MS didn't brick anyone's Xboxes. If you are referring to them banning folks from online play, that's what they did but they did not "brick" their boxes. :)

So in other words, 0 chance Apple does anything. :)
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Reading entire threads FTW!!!! ;)
 
thelatinist said:
Your logic is flawed. Just because an event has a binary outcome does not mean that each outcome is equally likely. The odds may be unknowable, but that does not mean they are even. Let's take an absurd example; what are the chances that the United States will invade Canada? According to your logic, the odds are 50-50; either it will or it won't. Surely you will admit that the odds are actually far lower than that?
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Let's start a Twitter petition that the US invade Canada!:D
 
well

thep33t said:
I dont know, day after all those xbox bannings happened, MS bricked my xbox360 with 3 flashing red lights...

Conspiracy or not...
Click to expand...



google ring of Death you will see some fixes as stated microsoft doesn't brick the xbox they just ban you from xbox360 via your device identifiers. how ever did you see any ufo's that night!
 
labman said:
google ring of Death you will see some fixes as stated microsoft doesn't brick the xbox they just ban you from xbox360 via your device identifiers. how ever did you see any ufo's that night!
Click to expand...

no more then I see on any other night... :whistle:
 
jessica. said:
Apple is not within their right to damage a device like that. They'll be in a world of hurt if they do. And online petitions are ridiculous … twitter petitions are just downright stupid.
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Like the million or so Xboxes that Microsoft just banned from their service?
 
Cost vs. Benefit still applies.

What would it cost Apple if they denied functionality to jailbroken handhelds?

Lawsuits? By who(m) . . . users that took the risk of modifying their devices? Assumption of the risk, baby. Would developers sue because now their apps can be installed outside of the App store? Probably not, right?

How many users "jumped ship" when the first round of bricking happened? Not enough to stop the company from selling a record number of handhelds, right?
 
what everyone seems to forget is that no one is forcing you to upgrade your software just dont upgrade, lets say for the sake of our argument apple was bricking phones (rather attempting to) then dont upgrade your OS.

Last time i checked apple had to have your OK (or permision) to install new software and the minute they take that away then, certainly there will be consiquences.
 
thelatinist said:
What "first round of brickings"? I have never heard that anyone's iPhone was bricked except through his own actions.
Click to expand...

Right, if you tampered with the iPhone, the firmware 1.1 update bricked your iPhone back in September 2007

Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty.


MacWorld Article
 
A Smart Jail breaker does not update

until they hear from either the Dev Team or Geohot or least until other others install the latest firmware so if a bunch started complaining they were bricked the majority would not update until Dev Team or Geohot found a fix. yes someday they might loose the war against Apple but so far they have won every round. programmers write programs hackers hack them that simple. most Jb want to customize there phones and want to run apps in the background. also easy control of there phone!
 
Apple does NOT follow Microsoft. So no.

Microsoft disables windows with WGA, if you even add too many components to your pc.
 
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