The Case for Jailbreaking [Editorial]

I’ll admit it, I’m a Jailbreaker.

According to Apple, that’s considered treason illegal.  There’s benefits and disadvantages for jailbreaking but the reason I do it is simply for functionality.  Certainly there are those that use jailbreaking for running pirated apps and games but the reason that I still jailbreak, despite the increased functionality OS 3.0 brought to the iPhone; it’s still not enough.

A little preface to this article is in order.  I started my smartphone usage on a BlackBerry, as most other people I’m sure.  There are certain things have been accepted as the norm since those early days with my BlackBerry 7290.  Options such as cut and paste, multi-tasking, and notification icons.  Having been an iPhone user now since the first 3G being released in Canada.  I do love having all my portable media, organizer, and a full featured mobile browser.  But explain to me why there is still no lock-screen notification icons??

Jailbreaking your iPhone involves restoring your iPhone with custom built firmware or flashing it with a third part boot rom.  The specifics can be found on a number of website with a simple Google search.  However, Apple has deemed it “inappropriate” to do so as you are breaking the ULA.  Besides getting into the legal aspects of things, breaking ULA’s is second nature these days isn’t it?  Honestly, can anyone ever say that they actually read the whole 3500 word essay that precedes the”Accept” button?  I understand that isn’t a valid excuse; however, if 99% of your users are not reading them, can you honestly say that it’s an effective form of notification?

The case for jailbreaking my iPhone is simply that the Apple device serves my purpose only so far and if I needed that one extra feature that jailbreaking can give me, then my only option is to break the ULA.  And truth be told, I only really miss the lock screen notification and task bar notification icons.  This can (and I’m assuming here) be easily added in a future firmware update by Apple.  Why it still hasn’t happened yet is beyond me since it’s been available in a jailbroken form since the first iPhone!

I think we’re all expecting an iPhone 3GS2 or some other form of an update this summer from Apple, and maybe what The Steve is doing is waiting for the new hardware before implementing these features.  Either way, I’m still an underserved customer and if this simple request isn’t eventually filled, as they say, there are plenty of other fishes in the sea.  Even if they aren’t as pretty as this Apple one.