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Security Apple News

New iPad Jailbroken Already 255

Posted by samzenpus from the what-took-so-long? dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Just hours after the new Apple iPad was released, it was jailbroken in three (how appropriate!) separate ways. This means that hackers have already found and exploited security holes to run custom code on the new iPad with iOS 5.1. The tools for jailbreaking your new iPad aren't yet available, but this first step means the software will be developed sooner rather than later."
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New iPad Jailbroken Already More

New iPad Jailbroken Already

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  • I'm not going to make the tablet mistake again. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 18, 2012 @10:42AM (#39395317)

    I have to admit it, I got caught up in the hype and I bought an tablet. The novelty wore off after a couple of days. Since then, it has sat on my desk, almost completely unused. In fact, it's one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

    Tablets in general are rather pointless devices. They're far bulkier than my smart phone, so they're not very good on the go. They're much less comfortable to use than my netbook or my laptop, especially when I have to do a lot of typing. They're so vastly underpowered relative to even an old desktop that they're not usable for anything computationally intensive. My Kindle is a much better e-book reader.

    I learned the hard way that the usefulness of tablets is purely a marketing creation. They look like they have potential, but in practice they're just the combination of the worst of every other type of computer or computing device.

    • Re:I'm not going to make the tablet mistake again. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by koan ( 80826 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @10:47AM (#39395337)

      Tablets are media consumption platforms for people that don't really use their computers for serious task, oh I know someone will post how they hacked the Gibson using their iPad and a bluetooth keyboard, but for the most part it's a consumer toy for consuming consumer baubles.

      Moooooooooooooooooo

      • Tablets are the windows that i both feed and administer my 'real' computers'. This is in no way a bad thing. By the way, the ipad would run circles around the laptops they had in that move. You could run all the CGI sequences from that movie in real time on the ipad. But yeah ,its a toy, a bauble.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by koan ( 80826 )

          So in other words tablets are what you use to connect to your real computers =)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by shmeeps ( 2406070 )
      I was lucky enough to grab an HP Touchpad during the fire sale for only $99. I'll be honest in that for the first few months I owned it I rarely used it. The only reason I use it regularly now is that my laptop won't even boot anymore and I don't have the money to replace it.

      As a grad student, it works alright for basic note taking, e-books, browsing the web and the like, and I really like the fact that it is so portable given the battery life and miniscule weight. If you grab a bluetooth mouse and keybo

      • I'd love to see some apps that could actually compile code.

        So, uh, install some? I copied the PDK headers and libs to mine and cross-compiled LLVM for it. Works fine.

    • Re:I'm not going to make the tablet mistake again. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jjohnson ( 62583 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:08AM (#39395441) Homepage

      the usefulness of tablets is purely a marketing creation

      Riiiiiiiight. Because "useful to me" is synonymous with "useful to anyone". You're the ur-consumer. Everyone actually enjoying and consistently using their tablets is doing it wrong.

    • I have one, but I rarely use it. It's screen is much smaller than my desktop (which is 3 monitors, actually) and there is no way to get all of the data on the screen I use. Even the models of laptop which have "full size" keyboards and weigh close to 10 lbs don't have the extra function keys I use or a comfortable layout. And don't get me started on the touch pad vs mouse, esp for programs that need a third or scroll button combination move. Mine mostly just sits on a shelf, collecting dust.


    • I bought a Archos 9, Win7, which came out pre-iPad, while its much more useful then the iPad and Playbook in my opinion after I playing around with all 3.

      But I have to completely agree, for me, its not a Palm Pilot (which my smartphone nearly replaces, I do miss graffiti though), nor is it a "real" computer such as a laptop or desktop to use for more useful items.

      The iPod Touch makes more sense then the iPad and many other tablets, atleast you can carry it around in your pocket. Otherwise I find I take

    • I have one, but I rarely use it. I spend most of my time out of the office, and it's just not practical to carry a desktop around. It doesn't have built-in wifi or cell data, so even it I were to pack it up and take it with me, I often can't get online to access my network resources. Of course, having all that computational power is good, but for the work I do I never even notice that my netbook can't process as fast - It works as fast as I can type things in.

    • I'm not going to make the smartphone mistake again (Score:5, Funny)

      by Overzeetop ( 214511 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:22AM (#39395511) Journal

      I have to admit it, I got caught up in the hype and I bought a smartphone. The novelty wore off after a couple of days. Since then, it has sat in it's charger, almost completely unused. In fact, it's one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

      Smartphones in general are rather pointless devices. They're far bulkier than my flip phone, so they're not very good on the go. They're much less comfortable to use than my netbook or my laptop, especially when I have to do a lot of typing. They're so vastly underpowered relative to even a netbook that they're not usable for anything computationally intensive. My Kindle is a much better e-book reader.

      I learned the hard way that the usefulness of smartphones is purely a marketing creation. They look like they have potential, but in practice they're just the combination of the worst of every other type of computer or computing device.

      • Well, if you don't want it any more, I'll take it. I got myself an n900 months and months ago and am still finding new uses for it. Ever since I've got it, I have been capable of keeping a telephone, calculator, browser, book reader, flashlight, media library/player, GPS navigation, TV remote and streaming set-top box in ONE pocket. Just be careful, because having so much useful stuff in one place is VERY appealing to thieves :(

    • They're far bulkier than my smart phone, so they're not very good on the go.

      Well, I find that the larger screen is more convenient for reading journal articles and conference papers, and I like the fact that I am not being coerced into buying a ridiculously overpriced data plan. For quickly checking my email, quickly looking something up, etc. a tablet can be useful.

      Now, there is no way that a tablet is going to replace a laptop or desktop. It is too hard to enter data into a tablet, too hard to create new software, and so forth. By the same token, I do not think a laptop c

    • They rock for reading comic books in .cbr formats. That's mostly what I use my touchpad for. I had a nook before and in some ways I think a 7" device is superior. But for reading comics you really do want that 9.7" screen.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )

        They suck for reading comic books.

        Comic books (typical ones published on A4 paper) need a 14.34" diagonal screen measurement to even get the text near the original readable size.

        • Well your mileage varies, then. As I pointed out in my original post, the 7" nook color was a bit too small for my taste, but I find a 10" screen to be just fine. Occasionally I will zoom in on something every now and then, which a good comic reader makes easy, but in general I find them to be very readable, and having, say, the entire run of Astro City, The Boys, The Walking Dead, and a good clutch of Alan Moore all on one device to be pretty awesome.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by thoth ( 7907 )

      On the other hand, I am contemplating purchasing my fourth tablet, as yet another gift. That's 2 ipads to family, and 1 Kindle Fire to a friend, so far... with another possible purchase in the near future. The recipients have all loved them so far.

      Yes yes, you of course are so awesome that a room full of servers is barely adequate. Naturally you run dozens of high-end number crunching simulations and modeling programs, develop software using 3 other monitors and continuously stream tv/movies to yet another.

    • Re:I'm not going to make the tablet mistake again. (Score:5, Informative)

      by carvalhao ( 774969 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @12:10PM (#39395877) Journal
      Well, it really depends on the kind of usage you give them. As a CEO I am always on the move, and there are a lot of surfaces and situations in which a laptop really isn't practical. Try the inconvenience of having to show a presentation on a lunch table with a laptop and you will understand why. Nothing beats the ease of passing an unobstrusive device over the table for the other person to check out what you are trying to show. This may sound frivolous, but when you are trying to sell an idea, every bit of positive feeling on the other side really counts. One of the best purchases I ever made.

    • Re:I'm not going to make the tablet mistake again. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by itsdapead ( 734413 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @12:20PM (#39395945)

      I have to admit it, I got caught up in the hype and I bought an tablet. The novelty wore off after a couple of days. Since then, it has sat on my desk, almost completely unused. In fact, it's one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

      I bought a small car the other day. Worst purchase I ever made: it won't tow my boat, there's no room in the back for a goat and it can't transport my family of six. After a 1000 mile drive I feel totally exhausted, and it got stuck 100 yards up the half mile dirt track to my house, where it stays while I drive around in my old SUV.

      Oh, wait, that's a lie - I have a small car because I don't have a house at the end of a dirt track, a boat, six kids, a goat or a regular need to drive more than a couple of hundred miles... And If I did, I'd quite possibly keep a second small car for convenience when I didn't need to take the goat.

      That's where we're heading: PC=truck, Tablet=small car. Pick one or both depending on your needs.

      The tablet is ideal for browsing the web, checking email (and making brief replies), playing casual games etc. while sitting in a comfy chair. I can also run the on-demand players for all 5 main TV channels here (only one of which is available on my "smart" TV). At meetings and conferences it's all I need to carry around unless I'm demoing certain bits of software, and it's a much less obtrusive way of taking meeting notes. I can plug in a camera adapter and preview my shots on the road (thats where the new iPads retina display is going to shine).

      What it won't do is supplant my proper computer for serious work. However, I know quite a few people for whom a tablet would be all the portable computer they needed. For me, it's all the computer I need while sitting in an armchair.

      Ps. I agree that the ePaper Kindle is a better tool for reading a novel. however, that's all a Kindle can do - even for reference books I find the tablet better.

      Sent from my Tablet, sitting in a comfy chair.

      • Sent from my Tablet, sitting in a comfy chair.

        Now we know you are lying. There is no way to type on a tablet while sitting comfortably anywhere.

    • I have the second generation iPad, a Kindle Fire, and a Kindle Touch.

      It amazes me how fast that iPad's weight starts to be noticed. Perhaps its the overall size of the tablet, however after experiencing the iPad I bought the Fire and then last week the Touch.

      Get me a device the size of the touch but in color and you will have something... until then its an expensive toy just asking to be broken. I cannot count the number of posts on some popular Apple sites about people either dropping their iPad or their k

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rthille ( 8526 )

        I got the rubber-band "handle" (Padlette) for my iPad2, and it makes longer term use way better. But yeah, they are still too heavy to hold "up" for very long.

    • I notice you don't say WHICH tablet you bought. One particular one is different to all the others and it's the one I take to work everyday 5 days a week, 6 hours a day. Then I come home and my house plays games on it. It's literally being used 12 hours a day, almost every day. Oh and I'm talking about my iPad.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ckhorne ( 940312 )

      I have to admit it, I got caught up in the hype and I bought a computer. The novelty wore off after a couple of days. Since then, it has sat on my desk, almost completely unused. In fact, it's one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

      Computers in general are rather pointless devices. They're far bulkier than my pencil and paper, so they're not very good on the go. They're much less comfortable to use than my clipboard, especially when I have to do a lot of writing. They require so much power relative to ev

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by x3CDA84B ( 2592699 )

      I didn't really understand the point of tablets until I used one extensively for testing a particular application at work, and got used to being able to view my calendar and inbox without the compromise of a phone-sized screen anywhere in the office.

      Like Jobs supposedly said, when they're made properly, they're intentionally a class that sits in-between "smart phone" and "laptop". They're not intended to do everything either of those device types can do, just like those devices can't do everything (well) th

    • I learned the hard way that the usefulness of tablets is purely a marketing creation. They look like they have potential, but in practice they're just the combination of the worst of every other type of computer or computing device.

      No, you learned the hard way that you are long to look and quick to jump and now have buyer's remorse. If you don't find it useful, sell it and stop your bitching for your own mistake.

      I find mine very useful for my purposes. It makes a wonderful presentation device for an artist's portfolio. It's lighter than an laptop or print portfolio and you can bring up what you want to show people and hand it to them to look at in about any situation. Book readers might be better for ebooks, for full color PDFs, espec

    • Having a tablet when you are at home or someplace for a while is just like having a larger nice smartphone. They are very similar and that is why Apple did so well as the technology that we have allows for such devices. Not to take anything away from Apple for putting some very good polish on it...along with their walled garden.

      Anyway having a tablet when you are at home allows you to leave your cell charging while still having that type of functionality at hand. And there are a pretty wide array of form

  • Jailbreaks (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 18, 2012 @10:44AM (#39395325)

    Remember: Jailbreaks are code execution vulnerabilities. On your oh so secure Apple device.

    • Re:Jailbreaks (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jo_ham ( 604554 ) <joham999 AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday March 18, 2012 @10:54AM (#39395363)

      Remember: Jailbreaks are code execution vulnerabilities. On your oh so secure Apple device.

      No software is 100% secure, all you can do is fix bugs and security holes as they become evident.

      Speaking of that, when Apple *does* fix these security holes, it's painted as "Apple patches jailbreaking because they hate freedom!!!" instead of "Apple closes security vulnerability".

      Damned if they do, damned if they don't, I suppose.

      (Disclaimer: I think iOS should have a built in 'advanced' mode that effectively results in the same thing as jailbreaking).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Surt ( 22457 )

        This is exactly why the NSA suffers from chronic breakins. There's just no way to fully secure software.

        • Except that the NSA also employs a variety of operational security measures to prevent break-ins. A windows machine that is not connected to the Internet is not going to be infected with viruses (yes I know someone could walk up to it and infect it; that is beside the point, there is no such thing as perfect security).
        • Have you ever heard of the word compromise? As in 'you always have to compromise security for flexibility?' You want a secure computer? turn it off. Everything else takes diligence.

      • Re:Jailbreaks (Score:5, Insightful)

        by betterunixthanunix ( 980855 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:34AM (#39395565)

        Damned if they do, damned if they don't, I suppose.

        False dichotomy; they could have just shipped tablets that were not locked down, or as you yourself suggest, tablets which can be unlocked by the user.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jo_ham ( 604554 )

          Damned if they do, damned if they don't, I suppose.

          False dichotomy; they could have just shipped tablets that were not locked down, or as you yourself suggest, tablets which can be unlocked by the user.

          In other words, their freedom to choose is conditional on aligning with your wishes. Now who's restricting freedom?

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by betterunixthanunix ( 980855 )
            So you are suggesting that it increases "freedom" to prevent users from installing political cartoon apps on their tablets? How is providing a switch that allows users to unlock their tablets restricting anyone's freedom?

            Oh wait, this is the old "if corporations want to screw their customers, they should have the freedom to do so" argument. User freedoms should come second to corporations', right? It is not as though users should have any expectation of being able to install the software they want to

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jo_ham ( 604554 )

              By that same token, if users "don't want to be screwed" then they are free to *not* purchase the device.

              A company is free to decide the features of a product (assuming it is within the law), and a consumer is free to choose to buy or not buy it.

              If the product doesn't fit your needs, then buy something else. You can't buy it, knowing the (fully legal) restrictions that Apple places on the thing and then complain that they are "limiting your freedom". Why did you buy it in the first place? You're free to do s

              • Well, we can ignore the fact that some people (e.g. students) are forced to use Apple's products if you want -- there are plenty of arguments about whether or not students should even be allowed to program school computers in arbitrary ways. Sure, people can choose to buy other tablets, but how is it unfair to criticize Apple for including a "feature" the prevents users from running unsigned code? If I were asked, "Do you recommend an iPad?" why should I not answer, "No, because your computer will be cont

                • Just a show of hands: Has anyone here installed an app on their regular computer -- that is to say, a compiled binary that isn't a web-browser -- that allows them to view political cartoons or pornography? If you have, can you vouch for the experience over using a web-browser?

                  I think it's time for someone to take their tinfoil hat off.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gtall ( 79522 )

                "That's the whole reason Android exists - as an alternative and freer option to iOS." I doubt this. Google probably did Android because they saw that Apple threatened to lock them out of all that wonderous user data they like to collect on all of us and then resell it. So they produced their own version of iOS to make sure they got a decent cut of that data.

      • I think a good reason an "advanced mode" isn't included is they'd have to support it.

        A traditional, non "locked-down" OS is a support nightmare, and Apple sees enough of that with OS X which has a far smaller user-base than iOS.

        • ....because they make lots of money from the App Store, and they can appease various friendly politicians by banning political cartoons, banning pornography, etc. Why would Apple want to give up that sort of control? It is not as if the company were founded as part of a movement to free computer users from that sort of control or anything like that...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jo_ham ( 604554 )

            That might hold some water if they actually did make lots of money from the App Store - they don't. The App Store is in profit for Apple, but not by much. It is a tool that exists to sell iOS devices, where they make vastly more profit.

            (And again, as has come up before on /. these figures come from Apple's financial statements and if you think they're lying or hiding the money or misrepresenting it to "boost" iOS profits due to "flagging iPhone 4S sales" then call the SEC and tell them so. Not that I'm accu

            • They would still lose the App Store revenue if they were to allow people to install unapproved software, and they would still not be able to prevent people from install pornography or political cartoons on iPads etc. The purpose of the lock down is to control what users are able to do with their computers, so that those users do not do anything that runs counter to Apple's own interests. That could mean damaging Apple's public image by installing pornography breaking the family-friendly image of tablets t

          • I can't remember the figures off the top of my head, but I believe the App Store counts for about 1% of Apple's revenue stream.

            And no, I don't think the company was founded in order to exert the controls you mention, and everything you've listed can be had by clicking on the "Safari" icon.

      • Any sort of 'advanced' mode might result in regular users turning it on by accident and then resulting in a much much greater number of vulnerabilities. No, the closed wall garden that Apple employs is what makes iOS great.And let's be honest, 95% of jailbreakers just want to pirate apps.

      • I hope they fix all of their security holes, but it will never happen.

    • And most of the jailbreaks require physical access to the device which is less dangerous than remote ones such as the extremely rare ones done via a web page attack. The latest requires no pass code on the device as well

    • Re:Jailbreaks (Score:4, Insightful)

      by simonebaracchi ( 1744894 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:20AM (#39395495)
      don't we usually say "physical access to machines equals root access!" instead of "code execution vulnerabilities" when this happens to unix boxes?

    • Latest jailbreaks are using up to 3 or 4 different exploits and require a physical cable connection in order to jailbreak. Yes these are bugs but it's not like the make the device super vulnerable. As witnessed by the fact the iPhone 4S jailbreak took months of dedicated work by several hacker groups to figure out a jailbreak. The reason this iPad 3 jailbreak is out so quickly is because the latest iOS release seems to be all about supporting the new retina display and LTE on the iPad and not fixing bugs. J

    • See, but that's okay because to get to those vulnerabilities you need physical access to my device. If you can't root my iPad with an app that's available in the app store (i.e. a hidden root), or via an email or link I get to from Safari, then the system is secure enough.

  • This is good news (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I always wondered when people would start saying that the Apple OS was less secure than Windows.

  • One at a Time (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fnord666 ( 889225 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @10:59AM (#39395391) Journal
    Hopefully the jailbreaking community will only use one exploit at a time so that when Apple patches the first, they can use the next and so on. What I would like to know is whether there are multiple groups working on this, and if so, do they communicate their exploits so that no more than one is revealed to Apple at a time?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by anethema ( 99553 )
      As mentioned you need many exploits for one jailbreak, but multiple groups will not release all their own jailbreak using totally diff methods for the same ios version. There has been semi-good cooperation there in the past.

  • And the cycle needlessly continues. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by InterruptDescriptorT ( 531083 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:38AM (#39395593) Homepage
    It's terribly unfortunate that Apple has decided that iPad owners have no right to install whatever software the owner sees fit on his or her own tablet, thus necessitating (and encouraging) the jailbreaking community.

    Mad props to these guys and their reverse engineering skills. Perhaps one day Apple will decide it's simply not worth the effort to keep up with the cat-and-mouse game of jailbreak/patch and just finally allow people to sideload apps and use their tablets however they want. Sadly, I don't foresee this happening.
    • It's almost as if hardware wants to be free as much as information does...

    • It will likely never be "Not worth it". Limiting what software can be installed and how it can be installed guarantees them 30% (for now) of _everything_ sold on the device. Opening it up would mean that there could be stores other than theirs. This is the same reason they don't allow languages or compilers to be installed. Out of curiosity, does anyone know if Apple will licence the female version of their dock connector for use in other phones, etc? There's tons of docks, etc, that lock people into Apple

    • And Disneyworld has no liquor store or strip clubs (Score:5, Funny)

      by Brannon ( 221550 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @01:10PM (#39396371)

      There are lots of examples of walled gardens in the world--Apple provides those who want it a brief repose from the malware infested cesspool. The smug technoratti hate this because (a) they don't think that nontechnical people should be allowed to safely use technology without having to kiss their rings, and (b) they want hundreds of millions of nontechnical users to subsidize their desire to tinker.

      • Nice...I'm going to remember this one.

      • Apple provides those who want it a brief repose from the malware infested cesspool.

        And the bullshit Apple line continues to be spewed.

        The smug technoratti hate this because (a) they don't think that nontechnical people should be allowed to safely use technology without having to kiss their rings, and (b) they want hundreds of millions of nontechnical users to subsidize their desire to tinker.

        Ah yes, the classic pro-Apple, authoritarian "argument to the masses."

        a) fails because Apple could keep the same rest

        • I've heard this before and it is crap--you claim that Apple could provide an easy option to use a non-curated means of loading native apps onto their iProducts and still maintain the same robustness and quality of user experience because people who don't want to won't exercise that capability. This attitude betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how users interact with technology. To put it briefly, it fails the "Re: Re: Re: Here try this out!" attack. A nontechnical user receives an email that claims th

          • Re:False on both points. (Score:4, Informative)

            by Microlith ( 54737 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @05:57PM (#39398213)

            To put it briefly, it fails the "Re: Re: Re: Here try this out!" attack.

            People have done far dumber things with even less provocation. But obviously, to protect the ignorant and foolish we need to deny everyone. That's the sum of your argument.

            A nontechnical user receives an email that claims they can unlock a free copy of Angry Birds Extreme by following some simple instructions to enable non-curated apps--they click through all warning messages (because that is what Windows has trained them to do over the last 20 years) and boom--they are using a buggy malware infested piece of crap app. Now they need to run virus checkers, take their phone into the Best Buy guys, or maybe over to that nerdy kid next door. Oh wait, I can just download this other app that promises to clean up my phone and make it run faster.

            Ah yes, because SOMETHING bad might happen we can't allow anyone at all any flexibility. Or perhaps the solution isn't to dumb everyone down to the least common denominator, but to give them a baseline of education on what to do and not to do. That'd solve far more problems than getting malware on their phone.

            Of course you'll say that the user got what he deserved, because fundamentally you think the point of technology is to make those who understand it feel righteously indignant towards those who don't.

            No one deserves to have their ignorance taken advantage of. No one deserves to be treated as though they were ignorant, either. And in supporting companies in their efforts to take away people's ability to do as they wish with their computer technology, you manage to do both.

            People who design bridges don't intend that the bridge should work properly only for those with civil engineering degrees.

            Idiotic analogy. Bridges serve a solitary purpose.

            People who design elevators don't feel offended when some obnoxious prick says it has a "dumbed down interface".

            Again, idiotic analogy. Elevators serve a single, solitary purpose.

            Your microwave also doesn't allow you to side load apps onto it.

            My microwave has a 4-bit microcontroller than can control power and has a handful of timers. I could make it do whatever I wanted, and publish how, with out Apple complaining that it should be a DMCA violation or having the thing fight me.

            Get the idea yet?

            Yes, your argument is absolutely terrible, and you are far worse than any "arrogant nerd" in that you approve of limiting what people can do because you feel they are idiots, rather than giving them the option of flexibility. You are a prime example of an "Apple Authoritarian."

            >You know what? people who design computers (I'm one of them) also really want those computers to be safe and usable for nontechnical folks, as do people who design operating systems and most apps

            And we can have that, without losing capability. Rather, we will have it denied to us by the arrogant who claim it is to "protect" us.

            these are people who have far more technical cred than most of the wannabes that hang out on slashdot. So who is it that is complaining about Apple? frankly it is a bunch of insecure bratty little script kiddies. Losers.

            Oh please, you've made it readily apparent that you're arrogant beyond words, and hold average people in even greater contempt than any poster on slashdot.

            Good thing you aren't in government.

    • It's terribly unfortunate that Apple has decided that iPad owners have no right to install whatever software the owner sees fit on his or her own tablet, thus necessitating (and encouraging) the jailbreaking community.

      The Apple philosophy is that the iPad is an appliance which should "just work". Because of my background, the locked-down nature of the device tends to rub me the wrong way, but it really is the best way to guarantee that the end-user experience has that quality. Most people using these device

  • Maybe Apple Intentionally "Allows" Jailbreaking (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mastershake82 ( 948396 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:42AM (#39395623)
    This is all speculation... but perhaps Apple purposely leaves the holes in the OS to allow this type of circumvention. Hear me out if in for a good conspiracy theory...

    I imagine there might be three areas of pressure to keep the OS closed:
    1. I'd speculate the main pressure on Apple to keep the OS closed is to prevent the piracy of app store apps to keep application authors happily creating apps for the device and not having to worry about the general population being able to copy and install them. More applications = more iPad sales to the general public.
    2. Since many iOS devices are enabled on mobile network not owned by Apple, I'm sure the networks "encourage" Apple to do their best to limit the ability of a user to use the network in unauthorized ways, such as tethering when not paying for the plan.
    3. A tertiary focus on keeping the OS closed to keep support costs down. Limiting options = easier troubleshooting.

    However, there is a contingent of users who will not buy the device unless they can do whatever they want with it / jailbreak it. Whether it's to load non-approved software or to pirate App Store applications or circumvent carrier restrictions in the mobile network enabled models. As far as I know, Apple doesn't take a loss on hardware sold, so Apple still wants their money and market share, so they leave these exploits available for them. This gives Apple the plausible deniability to the App Store application authors and the mobile network carriers ("Sorry, these dang HACKERS keep breaking through our security... we're doing our darndest but they keep getting around it... but don't worry, it's a pretty complex process and the average user doesn't bother.") and allows them to completely cut off support to people who have voided their warranty by performing the jailbreak.

    It's genius if you think about it.

  • wouldnt it be nice (Score:3, Funny)

    by FrozenFood ( 2515360 ) on Sunday March 18, 2012 @11:49AM (#39395665)

    to have a platform where the user can modify/upgrade/repair the device without the golden permission slip some pretentious cunt?

  • On one level, saying "why has Apple locked down my iPad so I can't run whatever code I want?" is a bit like saying "why has Krups locked down my coffee maker so I can't use it as steam energy source to power my lights?" or "why has Bosch locked down my washing machine so I can't control the RPM of the centrifuge for analysing soil samples?". The iPad is a consumer device sold with the purpose of performing particular functions specified by the manufacturer who will support and guarantee it for that purpose.

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