Wait, WHAT?

That's really disheartening, Apple. I'm a self-proclaimed Apple fan, and this makes me terribly sad. Apple has always taken kind of a hands-off approach to things like this in the past; making it clear that while they don't condone or support, they won't really criminalize you or prosecute you either - it's been the middle-road approach Apple's taken to everything from DRM in iTunes to disassembling MacBook Pros and turning them into ModBooks.

The fact that Apple's taking the hard-line approach with regard to the iPhone, especially since jailbreaking it can open up a world of customization and modification that iPhone owners really do love and deserve to have access to, (even if it's not explicitly condoned by Apple with presence on the App Store) is saddening, even if it's understandable. Apple has a corner on their market with the App Store and probably want to keep it, and they probably waste money supporting jailbroken iPhones.

Still. It's unfortunate they've chosen the path of criminalizing people for what they do with their own property.

Shame on you Apple!! We paid an outrageous amount of money on your product and now you want to tell us what we can and can't do with OUR OWN EQUIPMENT after the fact?!? You can't FORCE me to use your software if functioning alternatives are available (or can you?)!! By Apple's logic, I guess that MS can sue us for installing a different OS (i.e. Linux) on our PERSONAL computers. All I have to say is...get the eff out of my house and keep your hands off MY property! What a crock of BS...I BOUGHT it from your company so now I OWN it and should be able to do ANYTHING I want to it. If I choose to shoot the stupid thing into outer space, is Apple going to sue me for destruction of private property?!? Bite me! I guess Apple is freaking because of steve Job's health issues, is getting desperate because of the economy and IMO, making very bad decisions for the future of the company by tryng to pinch their own prepaid customers (we support you by buying your stuff you morons). I know that I'll be avoiding any more Apple products until this issue is resolved in favor of the CONSUMER (you know, the ones who keep a company alive by purchasing the products they produce)...ARGH!

FYI Apple, I just noticed the Top 10 Strategies to Optimize IT Spending in an Economic Downturn and threatening/strongarming your supporting consumers through lawsuits is probably NOT one of them!! Time to rethink this new "strategy" of spending a lot of money on frivolous lawsuits against LOYAL customers (we bought your products already you idiots) in order to bolster company income...ok, enough ranting at a company that isn't listening but I'm sure almost everyone agrees with me!

You know - some people realize huge amounts of success by allowing their customers and followers to customize the products they produce (see, Nine Inch Nails for an example) as the customer sees fit.

This is the exact reason why I hate Apple. They try to control every facet of their company, even when the product is in my hands. The phone itself has been fun so far (after I got over hating it's rotten guts, this feeling passed right about the time that I jailbroke it, hmm) but if Apple wants to control how I use my own phone, then they can shove it up their hipster asses.

I have no issues finding another phone.

This is the very reason I refuse to buy anything with a Apple name on it. It's almost exactly the same reason that most business & consumers have a PC on their desk . . . .

Yup...I agree because there are many other cell phone providers out there and the technology is quickly approaching what Apple believes to be exclusive technology! I mean if Apple thinks it's a matter of the "law", there is an old law on the books in the Carolinas from the 1800's, which states that ALL vehicles MUST be preceded by a man carrying a red flag. Obviously an outdated law designed to regulate horse and buggy traffic through town. Fortunately, that law will never be enforced but should state law enforcement begin pulling EVERYONE over to ticket them because of an outdated law that is still on the books?!? I don't think so and as a matter of fact, if they did try to enforce it legally, they'd most likely LOSE!!

English Language-Terms of Use

1. We will pay royalties to the Queen for use of the English language.

2. We will only produce sanctioned works that pass the Cultural Ministries criteria. Generally, artistic works are acceptable use so long as they do not involve technical prowess. Technical works are expressly forbidden unless sanctioned.

3. We acknowlege that we have capitulated to "Freedom from Choice".

4. We will support the establishment of Jobstown in Cupertino, Guyana.

5. Contrarian thinking to the above constitutes a direct violation of the DMCA. Congressmen shall investigate at their own peril.

6. You will drink the Kool Aid.

Now now, before you guys muster a lynch mob, there are companies that are far more restrictive than Apple with regard to the points above. I'm just as unhappy as anyone else (see the first comment), but I don't think hyperbole and TONS OF CAPITAL WORDS are of any use or point here. I mean, Real Networks did/does the same thing with RealDVD and did with RealPlayer, Microsoft does the same thing with the XBox, there are tons of examples.

The problem here isn't Apple; they're dealing with the market around them - the problem is with a market and a corporate mindset that they don't have to sell you a product that you actually own - many companies, especially technology and media producers, seem to think they're selling you a set of rights to use a product or device: rights they're able to change at any time. The real issue here is that media producers and retailers want to redefine "ownership" so it's more convenient for them, not for the consumer.

I jailbroke both of my iPhones, 3G and 2.5G, just a couple of weeks ago for the one and only purpose of using UAFaker. Now I really can use "just the internet" just like apple promised in their commercial. I have since loaded a couple of nice themes to use and a couple of apps that make the iPhone... MyPhone. My only regret about jailbreaking is I really wish I would have done it sooner instead of waiting around hoping that steve jobs and friends would eventually get around to fleshing out the iPhone's OS. Can you say "cut and paste" steve? Because I can, it's called Clippy and MyPhone can now cut and paste any text anywhere there is a keyboard, and that includes internet pages.
If they don't want me using Clippy, they can go into MY phone and delete it any time they want to... oh wait, I disabled that "feature" with a jailbroken app so now they can't. Sorry.

If a(ss)pp(ho)le says jailbreaking is illegal, fine, come and get me. I'll even turn my GPS on (turn by turn navigation is coming out at the end of February for jailbroken phones by the way) so once they pull their collective heads out of whatever orifice they're stuck up it'll be easier for them to find me!

So Good Follower...is that why the government is spending hundreds of billions of our hard earned dollars to bail out wealthy companies that have mismanaged their profits and have been stealing from us for decades but when it comes to a stimulus package for the people, meets the most resistance? If they had spread out that first 700 billion amongst the people, we'd each have about $3,000 more in our pockets to stimulate the economy but instead we hear stories of the money being spent on luxury ticket items i.e. corporate jets and golfing adventures for the guys who pissed it all away in the first place. The rich get richer and the rest of us just get screwed. I, too, am sick&tired of the system favoring the big companies and acting like the same damn government that favored taxation without representation while trying to crush the will of the people they governed (hopefully we'll see some change in thinking with the new administration but somehow I doubt it'll last very long). Do they not realise that the system AND their businesses will FAIL without popular vote and a consumer base to support them? Didn't they learn ANYTHING from this last failure (allowing creditors to operate in a less than responsible manner by writing so many bad loans that it helped bring th government, the dollar and the housing industry to it's knees)? This moronic move by Apple just reinforces this type of behavior and will only accelerate the same kind of damage to the IT sector IMHO. Dumb, dumb, dumb...

So, all you "jailbreakers", please don't bother Apple when you start having "issues" with your modified iPhones. Please don't take up the time of the folks at the Genius bar, and cause me to wait behind you in line while they try and figure out what the heck you did to screw up your phone. Perhaps Apple should offer an agreement that you could sign and return, stating that you forfeit all claims and rights regarding any warranties or performance gaurantees in exchange for your being allowed to run modified versions of Apple's software. Whaddya think? Sounds fair to me.

Apple will be worse than Microsoft

Seriously... Is anybody surprised by this??? This is classic Apple. I have come to expect nothing less from the technology nazi Steve Jobs...

FYI Tim...I don't even own an iPhone and have experienced plenty of problems from electronic products that were straight out of the box. They almost always require some kind of firmware "update", which is admitting that they released something before it was really ready for the end user. So, as most of us know, "upgrading" or modifying an IT product is almost a given if you want it to function correctly or to bolster the features that are desired. Look at all the "updates" that MS has to implement on a regular basis. It has been my experience that 1 out of 3 updats causes some kind of issue with my systems (just dealt with a failed LAN driver after the latest round of "updates"). IMO, a bandaid on top of a bandaid on top of a bandaid just won't solve the multitude of problems associated with IT, therefore, if the person who OWNS the product wishes to try something different...more power to them. FYI, I just recently purchased some Netgear WiFi stuff, am having problems with the "simple" setup (I know what I'm doing) and have met resistance from the company when asking for support (they want me to pay for it) so what was your point again?

Hey Apple!
Why don't you make the smart move and offer all of the great features that everyone is jailbreaking your phones for? It seems to me that this would be a more worthwhile pursuit than trying to litigate your customer base! Even Better, go hire the folks that are writing the modded os's and pump some more innovation into your brand! (Too much to ask for I know)

Not surprising. Apple see's it has a captive audience and wants to monopolize the platforms market.

Of course this strategy is what killed the Mac and the only reason it's seeing a resurgence is due to the iPod and iPhone. If Apple get's what it thinks it wants it's very likely it's going to repeat it's own history and we'll see phones with better capabilities sporting open platforms and offering even better selections of useful software.

Hell, look at what this closed platform has really brought us. A phone with a hugely advertized GPS that doesn't work as a navigation device. A PDA that doesn't support cut and paste, no searchable email or contacts... in short a locked crippled platform in many ways. It's a great platform but it's not nearly as great as it can be, simply due to the greed of Apple.

So Tim Barbour...
I would totally agree with you if this were an appliance, say a refrigerator. I should not try to do cryophysics on it, unless I take total responsibility for it's function. But this is a computer! It's purpose is to be programmed and thus be versatile. Only allowing Apple sanctioned programs is intentionally limiting. It's like GM selling cars that are only allowed to be driven on certain roads, but not others. Sadly, they do display elements of an authoritarian cult.

Anyway, if a rogue program breaks the phone, a factory condition reset will (should) fix it.

By the way, I want to like Apple, but they are making it very difficult. They want to totally control everything we do with our devices. What other company's laptops are more upgradable than 90% of their desktops? And that's only due to ExpressCard. Who makes a non-removable laptop battery? What if I want to carry a spare? There is a litany of such shortcomings that are artificially there. They do have high quality product and service, for which they charge a premium. Being artificially limiting is unacceptable.

By the way, I don't think that they actually invent a lot. They are a fantastic industrial design and marketing company, but breakthroughs, outside of design, really aren't there.

This is why I never have and never will by any Apple product. If I purchase hardware at an ownership price, it is because I wish to own the hardware. If the functionality is or can be restricted to something less than I need, I will not purchase it... a simple concept. Apple has never measured up to this basic principle.

This is why I hate apple and dumped the crippled iphone. I hated fanboys trying to defend apple. I'm now happy using another smartphone and it's way way better and very open. Too proprietary. The concept should have been better. Too bad it's not good enough for me.

Even though the Apple hate train has left the station here (although understandable to some degree, but not to the illogical we've seen above) and it might be too late for logic to reclaim this thread, it's worth noting something important here:

It wasn't mentioned here, reading around the Web has shown me that it should be pointed out that Apple's taking this stance on jailbreaking not to pin its customers into a corner, but because jailbraking allows users to run pirated iPhone applications.

There are apps out there specifically designed to allow users to take paid iPhone apps, crack them, and then distribute them freely: something that iPhone application developers have been revolting against (with good reason). So Apple is left in a lurch - cater to a small group of customers and save face in the eyes of people like many of the above commenters who aren't even customers and likely never would be, this decision or no (preconceived notions being prevailing and all), or protect the interests of the developers who have made the iPhone such a robust platform.

The majority of iPhone users don't jailbreak, so it wouldn't even matter to them - it's just those of us (and yes, that's me too - my iPod Touch is jailbroken) who do that have to suffer for the actions of the pirates among us.

Sound familiar?

Dear Alan h,

I respectfully disagree. I believe the arguments being made are quite logical. I agree piracy is wrong. If you truly believe that Apple is taking these measures to combat piracy, then it's thowing out the baby with the washwater. What matters here is the artificial obstacles to using machines (phones or otherwise)that we purchased and own! By the same logic, let's outlaw bricks since they can be used to break a store window and rob it. If you feel that Apple is treated with contempt, then the company itself brought it about. I've not jailbroken my phone because I shouldn't have to. It would be a shame, but if someone made an alternate OS for it (Android? Linux? Whatever!) then I absolutely have the right to switch to it. You certainly would agree that there is no IP issue with use of the hardware itself. It is purchased and owned. If the software is licensed, then you should be able to use something else if you disagree with the terms. Jailbreaking (illegaly?) modifies the OS so that unsanctioned applications can run. The argument here is that Apple has created a situation where people are resorting to extreme (questionable?) measures to get better value out of the hardware they own. Things they can reasonably expect. Better GPS, Networking, Bluetooth Keyboards, Java, Cut and Paste, Flah, cannot be confused with promoting piracy.

Yes I know Apple is not alone in this, but they are particularly egregious. I own several PC's, a Macbook Pro, several iPods, and a couple of iPhones. Like I said, I'm trying to like Apple, but they really annoy me...

It would appear Apple has found a very effective means of alienating their customer base.

Not a real good move for a company that depends on being cool/hot/in fashion to sell product at premium prices.

The market will take care of Apple. If you are all serious about your comments, why not give alternatives a try? Looks to me like the T-Mobile G1 is a good starting point, alot cheaper and certainly open for business right now... Their solution isn't as pretty as the iPhone but worth looking at.

I would venture to bet that Apple is doing this as part of their strategy for the lawsuit against Psystar.

how about you kids at apple there forget about trying to sue everyone for everything and just let technology move along using its own momentum. Two words PALM PRE. get one now, i just had a look and it leaves the iphone for dead, not to mention the iphone uses, sorry, "stole" technology developed by PALM, ie: the touchscreen technology, also many more software developments (and PALM dosent even bother to make a mention of it), so it has to be better, they've had more time to refine it. PLUS you can use it on MAC, LINUX or Windows, the battery life is way longer and you can do whatever you want to it because PALM welcome innovation, they dont fear and hate it due to GREED.