To Jailbreak or Not to Jailbreak

by Eric March on September 12, 2008 at 6:20 pm

That seems to be the question these days.  Until July 9th, jailbreaking was the only way iPhone and iPod Touch users could install and use third party apps thanks to the talented folks at the iPhone Dev Team who not only wormed their way into the firmware to open the doors to development, but also whipped up the toolchain needed to write the software in the first place.  They were good times, they were.  Loads of developers eventually jumped on board and wrote some fantastic pieces of software that turned our once blackboxed devices into portable game machines and gave them features and capabilities they truly deserved.

Since the introduction of the App Store however, the landscape of the jailbreak scene has changed dramatically.  The vast majority of the greatest jailbreak developers have fled the scene to seek fame and fortune in the App Store, leaving only a handful of great scene devs remaining — and those who remain are in large part those who have written software packages that would never pass Apple’s vetting process because they violate one or more SDK rules.  ZodTTD’s emulators, Snapture Labs awesome camera app, Winterboard, Customize, and a list of others who have written apps that enhance the functionality of the iPhone in general through means Apple would wag an angry finger at if ever they tried that sort of tom foolery in the App Store.

To be sure, much of what remains in the jailbreak scene is still some excellent stuff well worth the time to check out, but there’s no mistaking that the scene is now a shadow of the rich, thriving independent development community that it once was.  The App Store is a powerful attraction to developers who have something to offer that fits within the SDK’s boundaries — barring the lack of a Mac development environment, there’s really not much reason for a developer not to jump the fence, especially when they could potentially make a financial killing in doing so.

So the question that is becoming increasingly persistent in its demand to be asked is: Are you still interested in jailbreaking?  Does the jailbreak scene still contain enough to keep you jumping through the hoops required to jailbreak every time a new firmware version is released?  Are there apps in the jailbreak scene that would never make it to the App Store that you simply can’t live without?  Or are you contented now with the ability of the legit App Store scene to fill your application needs, now that there are well over 3,000 apps covering a wide range of genres to fit most needs?

I ask because I am finding myself approaching a crossroads.  I am still attracted to the jailbreak scene primarily by Snapture, but I also like Winterboard and a few other apps, not to mention Zod’s emulators.  Still, now that Firmware 2.1 is out, I am actuall planning to do something I’ve never done before: I’m going to upgrade tonight without waiting for Pwnage/QuickPwn to be updated to support it.  I can always QuickPwn after the fact once it’s good to go, but frankly, I want the new functionality and stability of the latest firmware enough to do without my jailbreak apps for however long it takes for the jailbreak to come out.

More importantly, I worry that the contraction of the jailbreak scene will either continue to make good devs flee to the App Store or just give up altogether due to the dwindling audience they’re developing for.  The shape of the scene right now looks a lot like it did late last year; active development, but from a small group of dedicated coders.  The only difference is that the software has matured a great deal as developers have had a lot more time to come to terms with the toolchain.

Nevertheless, the regression of the scene to its early days, while not surprising, calls into question the continued viability of the scene as a whole given its diminishing size.  There are still plenty of apps you’ll never get in the App Store, that much will likely never change, but will it continue to be enough, and will remaining developers stay the course despite their venue becoming decidedly more intimate?

I’m not one to spread FUD — I hate FUD pieces, and this is in no way meant to be construed as a prediction of doom and gloom for iPhone hackers — but I’ve been wondering more and more lately what the general consensus is from our readers.  Have you jailbroken before?  If so, are you going to continue to do so for the forseeable future?  Or are you just getting tired of the whole thing and feel that there’s not enough life left in the scene to keep you there?  I’ve created a poll on the sidebar to the right if you’d like to cast your lot, but I’d also be interested in hearing any comments you might have on the topic.

Related Stories:

• September 20, 2008 -- QuickPwn 2.1 GUI for Windows Released (14)
• November 23, 2008 -- PwnageTool and QuickPwn for Firmware 2.2 Released (2)
• September 12, 2008 -- Unofficial QuickPwn for iPod Touch Firmware 2.1 Released (0)

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Posted in Jailbreak, Op/Ed, iPhone Related, iPod Touch Related