Iphone 3.1 cracked in six days

THE IPHONE DEV TEAM has once again thrown a spanner in Apple's works by releasing a partial jailbreak for the Iphone OS 3.1.

As late as yesterday the Iphone-cracking scallywags were warning wayward users not to touch the official update with a very long stick as that would over-ride previously unlocked handsets.

"If you want to keep the jailbreak or unlock on your 3GS," the group's blog reported, "you should resist all urges to install Apple’s official firmware updates without knowing if a jailbreak exists for that version yet. Unless another (different) bootrom exploit is found for the 3GS that doesn’t require a 'foot in the door' with a signed official iBoot, then accepting official updates willy-nilly may cause you to be cutoff from the jailbreak. And it will definitely cause you to be cutoff from the carrier unlock."

And although the new 3GS handset and 2G and 3G Ipod Touches still seem to be resisting all attempts to break Apple's security lock-down, many older devices have been succesfully jailbroken.

The original Iphone, the Iphone 3G and the Ipod touch 1G can all be made to do lots of things Job's Mob don't want you to do with the newly released Pwnage Tool 3.1 which is doing the rounds of a P2P network somewhere near you as we write.

The tool is a desktop application allows users to create a tweaked version of the Iphone OS and then trick Itunes into installing it, whilst another tool called Ultrasnow allows the handset to use cellular services not sanctioned by the Cupertino Cabal.

Jalibreaking, which was mainly used in the past to allow Iphone users to install software which had not been through Apple's rigorous vetting process, has taken on a different role since the advent of the App Store. Many frustrated Iphone fans now crack their handsets to allow them to be used in countries where the ubiquitous gadget is not officially sold. Others use the tools to bypass Apple's policy of using single airtime providers in many territories.

Installing the 3.1 update in the Apple recommended manner will mess with a jailbroken device's baseband - the part of the hardware which allows the processing chips to talk to the communications chips - permanently cutting off connections to non-approved airtime providers.

The Dev Team has made no promises about unlocking the latest Iphone 3GS but says that it will happen some time in the near future, saying "Please don't bug us about it. we'll release it when we have something ready."

The Dev Team has been an irritating thorn in Apple's side since the release of the very first Iphone in January 2007 and they have been cited by the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a shining example to all in their attempts to force Apple to allow more public access to the Iphone's top secret internal workings. It is estimated that at least 1.6 million devices have been jailbroken using tools provided by the team and it's little short of amazing that Apple hasn't sicced its dogs of law on the irreverent Iphone hackers.

The Cupertino company's cast iron End User licence agreements will of course mean that jailbroken Iphones are exempt from any warranty repairs. Then again, you wouldn't deliberately put diesel fuel in a petrol-engined car and then insist that the manufacturer should have to pay for the repairs, would you?
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