Filed under: apple

Apple Just Made Jailbreaking Mainstream

The new Apple AppStore rules that have been widely publicized here, here, and here among other places, will make jailbreaking iOS devices much more popular, ensure there is plenty of funding to continue the cat and mouse game of jailbreaker and jailbreakee, and if Apple isn't careful transform Cydia, the jailbreak app store into a solid mainstream competitor.  

For some background, check out this Wired article on the legalizing of jailbreaking "U.S. Declares iPhone Jailbreaking Legal, Over Apple’s Objections."  The short of it is that jailbreaking lets you add Apps to your iPhone, or iPad and they DO NOT have to go through the Apple AppStore, and pay the fees that Apple wants to charge AppStore developers.  The Cydia app store has had apps that allow tethering, folders, copy/paste, ebook readers, pop up texts, and hundreds of other features that Apple has taken a long time to implement and some they still haven't gotten around to.  

Since Apple has decided to take a much bigger bite of the apple, No pun intended really, of any subscription payments at 30% of the users payments, and Cydia right now only takes a fraction of that, it is a perfect opportunity for Cydia to add some killer apps and make itself a fully fledged app store.  Rhapsody has already declared how ticked off they are, and the 30% revenue is the EXACT amount Amazon makes off a kindle ebook.

There are three major things that keep people from jailbreaking, ignorance of what is available, and that is is safe, and legal.  I fully expect Rapsody, Pandora, Kindle, and SaaS apps of all stripes to see the opportunity to move to a Non-Apple store, which give Apple ZERO revenue, and take it.  In Kindle and Rapsody's case the added value of using a competitors own device without paying them after being threatened with fiscal oblivion will be hard to ignore.  The addition of popular and large company's like Amazon and Rhapsody, and I bet Hulu too, would give the Cydia store and jailbreaking as a whole a gloss of respectability, that will make it easier for the general public to feel comfortable jailbreakig their iOS devices.  That will add revenue to Cydia and allow the hackers to keep finding holes into the iOS for further jailbreaking.  

TL;DR

  • Apple raises subscription costs on app subscription above profit margin of apps
  • "Respectable' companies apps leave Apple AppStore and go to Cydia's Jailbreak app store, they have nothing to lose.
  • More people jailbreak their iOS devices
  • Cydia makes more money and continues to find new jailbreaks
  • Apple freaks out and lowers the subscription cost too late
  • Everyone and their aunt Mildred have jailbroken their iPhone5's