Filed under: Apple Corporate, Bad Apple, Apple
Jobs: "It's our job to stop them breaking in"
Computerworld quoted Steve Jobs today, about whether Apple will continue to stay ahead of hacking efforts. "It's a cat-and-mouse game," Jobs said. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in." This is not especially good news for iPhone and iPod touch™ owners invested in unlocks and third-party enhancements--or for third party vendors like Belkin and Griffin, with their unapproved docks that will not work with recent iPods. Apple's recent firmware and hardware releases lend weight to TUAW's argument that Apple is working on tightening security and their "Made-for-Apple" focus.
Thanks to hourog.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Marc said 12:19AM on 9-19-2007
If it were designed properly then it wouldn't need to be hacked. I cancelling my pre-order on the iPod Touch. Forget this.
Reply
john said 12:19AM on 9-19-2007
I think you should make it clear that he's talking about the unlocking hacks...not third party development.
Reply
Louis said 12:22AM on 9-19-2007
Every day the iphone and iPoT are locked I become less of an apple fan.
Reply
asdf said 12:23AM on 9-19-2007
Everyone watch Apple's stock drop... At least on my part...
Reply
Kris said 12:23AM on 9-19-2007
Note that article's focus is unlocking hacks (so you can use unauthorized SIM cards). It could very well be that Apple still doesn't care about installing 3rd party apps on the iPhone.
Reply
aph3x said 12:25AM on 9-19-2007
Apples stock won't go down because 0.01% of the population won't be able to unlock them. I'm getting so sick and tired of reading crap comments like that.
Reply
Stublag said 12:36AM on 9-19-2007
If the new iPhone update re-locks my iphone I'm returning it.
Reply
Zach Everson said 12:42AM on 9-19-2007
So speaketh Mother Apple from upon high.
I have no designs on hacking ringtones (in fact, I preferred it when they couldn't be used on the iPhone at all). That being said, Apple decided to enable them; should it be surprised that customers are averse to spending 50 percent of the original cost of a song just for a 30-second snippet of it?
Reply
Cycomachead said 12:53AM on 9-19-2007
IMO Apple is becoming more $$$ hungary. I hope Steve just means true iPhone unlocks. But Apple really should just allow older products to work and just say they aren't supported, or only offer lower quality video. BUT PLEASE Steve let us just hack the touch or better yet open it up. I know no one is restricting Apple on that one.
Reply
Cycomachead said 12:53AM on 9-19-2007
IMO Apple is becoming more $$$ hungary. I hope Steve just means true iPhone unlocks. But Apple really should just allow older products to work and just say they aren't supported, or only offer lower quality video. BUT PLEASE Steve let us just hack the touch or better yet open it up. I know no one is restricting Apple on that one.
Reply
Ben the Dog said 12:54AM on 9-19-2007
I love Apple toys as much as the next fanboy, but what's with the current trend of buying a gadget as soon as it comes out and *then* doing your research and homework on it?
A rational person does their homework, looks at pros / cons / alternatives, and THEN makes a purchase.
If you can't wait a few months to see whether the iPhone / iPod touch can be properly unlocked / hacked, then whose problem is that? Yes, you can fiddle around under the hood of your gadget, but you can also stop updating the software so that your hacks / locks are retained.
Want custom ringtones / 3G / no contract? I can name at least 5 phones off the top of my head that you'd be happy with. Want a beautiful ipod, gorgeous interface, but with some software limitations? Then get an iPhone / iPod touch.
All of this "buy now, think about it later" is ridiculous.
Reply
Jon said 12:54AM on 9-19-2007
#8: 100% of the song cost (unless it's a Plus song).
Reply
Mike said 12:58AM on 9-19-2007
I'm getting kind of tired of hearing people whine about the iPhone not being hackable. C'mon, give me a break, when was the last time that you heard a company supporting hacking of hardware and software? Or Intel supporting overclocking? They just don't... why expect more from Apple?
Now, Erica, I'm sure this affects you and I know you want to hack and don't get me wrong, I'm all for it (I've created my own ringtones and done small things here and there) but can we blame Apple?
I'm not anti-hacker, I appreciate what the hacking community brings (which is why I've got a hacked PSP for homebrew) but don't go throw away or return your iPhone... all this because of the AppleTV hacking it seems...
Reply
Nick said 1:13AM on 9-19-2007
To write this snippet on TUAW without mentioning that Steve is referring to iPhone unlocking efforts is deceptive at best. In fact, it is unacceptable. Pride yourself in reporting *accurate* news rather than sensationalist news, please.
Reply
klime said 1:15AM on 9-19-2007
I suppose Jobs is talking about unlocking. I have no problem with this, though I wish it were different. Apple wants controls of its market and in many ways desires more control than say Microsoft. Its odd how people see Apple as "cool" considering how many rules they make, but hey, their products are great. So there you go...
Reply
Jansperus said 1:25AM on 9-19-2007
I think we should cut them some slack. This is about the sim unlocking. I'm sure Apple must be obligated to protect the interests of AT&T. If
they neglect their partners, then who'll want to partner with them in the future?
Reply
WiLLGT09 said 1:34AM on 9-19-2007
I think I would have to agree with Jansperus, I'll bet that while Apple and AT&T are contracted together for this initial exclusivity period, Apple is just being cautions. Perhaps after this period is up, Apple will loosen up.
Also, with all these firmware updates, could you not choose to upgrade to the newest version? like just hit Cancel with it tries to update the software?
Reply
James F said 1:51AM on 9-19-2007
That quote is about unlocking the iPhone for non-authorized SIMs. Greg Joswiak said that Apple is not going to encourage or hinder 3rd party apps. Steve Jobs also indicated that he's interested in the non-internet homebrew apps that were released. I'm not too worried.
Reply
iamkida said 1:55AM on 9-19-2007
i'm sick and tired of reading about people who are so bent out of shape that the iphone they bought knowing full well that it was locked for at&t is not open to third party developers for installed apps get pissed off when apple breaks a hack with an update. are you really suprised? go return your iphone so we don't have to listen to you cry over it. why you're returning your iphone take that money and go buy yourself a copy (any version will do) of windows vista and run that. that should be enjoyable enough....
Reply
KenjiFinster said 1:55AM on 9-19-2007
@11:
The problem is, that in some places of the world, the iPhone won't be available... ever (Or at least until 2009). Here, in Chile, we don't have an iTunes Store, which leave us with no way to activate an iPhone on the local carriers, or a way to get ringtones for it. And since the iPhone is operator-locked (AT&T/O2 at this moment), the phone can't be used here.
I do support for this things, and I'm getting absolutely sick of telling people that Latin America is the shanty-town of the USA according to Apple.
The iPhone would sell like hotcakes here (Heck, even the people from Nokia want one), but since Apple doesn't seems to like to do business in Latin America, we're absolutely screwed.
Reply