@John Muir

“Jailbreaking’s biggest draw – as you wrote about at the time – was for unlocking and exporting 1st generation iPhones.”

Actually, that’s unlocking, which is quite separate from jailbreaking. Generally both functions are rolled into the same software, but you can jailbreak an iPhone without unlocking it, and unlock one without jailbreaking it, as well. (Though in reality it’ll be jailbroken, unlocked, and “re-jailed,” as it were.)

@daGUY

“You can no longer install iPhone OS updates without running the risk of bricking your phone”

At this point the jailbreaking community have gone far beyond the dangers of bricking your phone. There’s no doubt that part of their testing of new jailbreaks includes making sure that the method will always allow you at the very least to wipe your phone and re-install the official OS, along with your most recent backup. (Of course, they also always strongly emphasize making an up-to-date backup right before going through the process of jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod Touch.)

@timpritlove

“I wonder what makes you so sure the ‘Jailbreak market’ is going to survive.”

Personally I think the “Jailbreak market” is going to survive as long as there are geeks and open source advocates. It’s the same as how as long as Mount Everett exists there will always be new people who want to climb it.

“At least, [Apple] could make it really hard to have both ‘markets’ working at the same time.”

They already do. The jailbreakers have gotten very, very skilled and competent over the 14+ months since the iPhone was first released.

@addicted44

“Jailbreaking is not an alternative. There is only ONE way Apple can do this well, and do it right. Let the Apple app store be one amongst many available app stores for the iphone.”

That’s simply not in Apple’s interest, nor is it in the interest of their shareholders. You may feel that it’s unfortunate that that trumps the interests of a small minority of their customers (and make no mistake, the vast majority are perfectly well served by the App Store as it is, and Apple’s policies regarding it), but that’s business.

“the imperfect environment Google will bring with Android will destroy this Apple fantasy unless Apple changes its ways.”

Please, keep holding your breath. It makes your face turn such pretty colors. :)

@Jon T

“I get the feeling that there is a new generation of Mac /iPhone converts that will do anything to subvert Apple and the Mac/iPhone/iPod platforms into a reincarnation of Microsoft Windows.”

Indeed. Witness the continued bleating that what Apple “NEEDS” to do is sell loss-leader commodity PCs, make Mac OS available for ALL PC hardware, and/or ditch their own hardware entirely and become a software-only house.

Uh huh. And I need to nail one of my feet to the floor to enable me to run faster.

I get the feeling that there is a new generation of Mac /iPhone converts that will do anything to subvert Apple and the Mac/iPhone/iPod platforms into a reincarnation of Microsoft Windows.

Other app stores could have policies that allow people to install whatever crap they want on their non-jailbroken iphone. On the other hand, if users want checks on their apps, then they will go through the official Apple one.

Apple may want to create a “perfect environment” but the imperfect environment Google will bring with Android will destroy this Apple fantasy unless Apple changes its ways. If they dont, it will be Dos and MS all over again.

My ancestors say that “the fowl does not ever forget the farmer that plucks off all its feathers in the cold season”. For those tech-minded types and developers who were not born at the time or too young to appreciate the techno-politics of the nascent PC (microcomputer) era, Dan’s archive posts of those heady days will quickly bring you up to date with the merciless and mercenary treatment the Apple Mac received at the hands of 3rd party software developers once the Windows-Intel-OEM ecosystem juggernaut took to the skies like a super-jumbo.

In a nutshell, these developers became “a law unto themselves” and, in the heady pursuit of the massive market opening up, they simply could not be bothered to help maintain the Apple Mac platform’s edge in functionality, instead opting to develop equal features for both platforms, putting the niche products of Apple Inc at a massive disadvantage, as if dwindling market share was not bad enough.

The bleatings of a great many of today’s software programmers regarding background processes, the NDA and selection for the App Store smack of this same unholy mix of greed, self-importance and inordinate ambition – “hurry up and relax the rules already, we want to write bestsellers, we want to run expensive classes, the success or otherwise of the platform depends on our expertise and we can make or break it, the power and stability requirements of the devices are not important enough factors we will allow to get in our way” etc.

May Apple Inc never forget them or their new generation, who by all accounts are even more “red-eyed” than their forbears in the pursuit of rock stardom at the expense of all other considerations, social sense or decency.

On a more positive note, however, this wretched past should not blind Apple Inc to the altruistic arguments that are being genuinely put forward from time to time for the greater good and the advancement of the platform.

“Podcaster would have to download podcasts and keep them in its own data sandbox. Third-party apps have ZERO access to the ipod app, which includes podcasts loaded by itunes. Don’t forget that podcasts are just RSS feeds that serve audio files rather than blog posts. There are a variety of apps that have automatic podcatcher capabilities, including NetNewsWire and NewsFire. Also, mobile Safari has (rudimentary) RSS capabilities, so should NNW and other iphone RSS readers also be banned?”

Ok, but do your examples really work? NNW offers a very different interface and much improved functionality compared to Safari’s rudimentary RSS reading. Podcaster, from the video (raymccrae posted a link above) I saw offers an interface nearly indistinguishable from that of Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch podcast player (let alone iTunes’ podcast listing) and no unique functionality (other than the ability to download and subscribe to podcasts from the device itself; that isn’t possible in the iPhone’s podcast player, right?). Why should Apple allow the blatant duplication of their software?