october 14, 2007It was a matter of time before someone found a way to hack the iPod touch and iPhone 1.1.1 firmware. And, it will only be a matter of time before Apple releases a new firmware to patch the vulnerability that allows for full system access. Am I going to hack (ie. jailbreak) my iPod touch? Nah. It is doing what I need it to do right now. It would be nice to have all the iPhone apps on my iPod touch (mainly, Calendar that lets me add things, Mail, Weather and Stocks). But, I don't want to spend my time jailbreaking and hacking up my iPod touch only to have it reset with the next firmware release.
For a lot of people, getting the ability to add iPhone applications and 3rd party applications to their iPod touch really makes the next firmware update moot. Why would anyone with all these apps want to lock up their system and have these apps removed? Apple has to realized this and with their next firmware upgraded, especially for the iPod touch (and to a lesser degree the iPhone), they need to put some serious value-added features in. The jailbreak only goes to show Apple that the public does want to have the iPhone apps on their iPod touches. By adding the iPhone apps to the iPod touch, Apple will be expanding the market for the iPod touch. In my opinion, this will not eat into their iPhone market either. If someone wanted a phone, they would buy an iPhone -- otherwise, the iPod touch makes for a great addition.
My guess is that the next firmware out of Apple will give some extra functionality that was not originally included with the iPod touch. My guess for value added stuff are:
- Safari with Flash support. This would be hard for both iPod touch and iPhone users to ignore. It would probably be enough to convince jailbroken iPhone users to upgrade -- though, may still be hard to convince jailbroken iPod touch users to upgrade.
- Calendar with add/edit support. This would be only for iPod touch users. I don't see how it could be a hard thing for Apple to add since it already works on the iPhone. I don't think this would be enough to convince people to switch from a jailbroken iPod touch since it would already be running the iPhone Calendar App. But, for us normal users, it would be a nice addition.
- iPhone apps. This one is going to be a stretch. Looking at how the public craves the iPhone apps on their iPod touches, I would say this would be the way to get people to upgrade their firmware. Mail, Stocks, Weather and Google Maps -- they all work fine over wifi, so there shouldn't be anything holding Apple back from adding these to the iPod touch.
- Third Party app support. This one is a farther stretch than the iPhone apps guess. Seeing how Apple has just launched a Webapp directory, I doubt that they will be opening up the actual hardware platform and system to developers. But, hey, stranger things have happened.
For now, I'll sit and watch the battle between the hackers and Apple. It will be a continuing fight. The jailbreaking of the 1.1.1 firmware shows that whatever Apple does, hackers can defeat. If Apple continues their stance of locking up the iPod touch and iPhone platform, the hackers will continue to find ways around their locks.
Apple, just give people what they want: A platform where applications can be installed.
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