Source: Gizmodo Until now, Apple has made great efforts to lock the iPhone and impede access. The main reason was to avoid sim unlocking which strains their relationships with the official telecom operators. We know they have achieved little success in this area. Hackers have become knowledgeable experts in the intricacies of the unit.
The arrival of the SDK and the imperative role of AppStore that Apple wants to put in place will give them one more reason to try to block the iPhone.
But things promise to be very bad.
The iPhone dev team has shown that they have managed to unlock the 2.0 beta firmware of the device in order to be able to install unsigned software in addition to those that Apple could offer.
If until now, quoting Steve Jobs, this has all been a game of cat and mouse, the situation will become very difficult to manage.
While it is possible to unlock the iPhone and bypass AppStore, we will find an environment where developers will have to choose once and for all between the authorized route or the non-approved one. Knowing that even the developers of free software would have to pay a licence, there is a risk of the free software being distributed by parallel tracks, and on the other hand, buying through the path advocated by Apple.
Of course, Apple would not lose real money in this case, but their online store would be much poorer for the software, which would tend to attract fewer potential customers.
However, we will have to see if this will be fixed by Apple new protections yet to be put in place. It is important not underestimate them. If they offer good
protection, Apple will certainly have kept back the final version and not yet implemented it.
[translation by jeremy]
