The Live Indian Entertainment Blog

Jailbreaking the iPhone relies on finding a hole somewhere in the platform to exploit. The lower level the exploit exists at, the harder it is for Apple to close. Just hours after Apple released iOS 4.1 this week, jailbreakers found a hole in the best place possible: the bootrom.

This does not, however, mean an official jailbreak has been created. It does, however, mean that hackers should be able to create a jailbreak that will be hard for Apple to stop. Until now, the exploits have been "userland," and thus easy for Apple to fix in the software, which it has. To close the new exploit, Apple will have to update the hardware, not the software.

The exploit was first announced by iPhone Dev Team member pod2g. The iPhone Dev Team has been at the forefront of the jailbreaking effort. Jailbreaking allows both the installation of software that Apple wouldn't allow you to install, normally, as well as unlocking of the iPhone. Both of these have been confirmed to be legal (as a DMCA exemption) by the U.S. Library of Congress, though it is true that they do void your warranty.

Of course, as a true jailbreak has not been generated, just the discovery of the exploit. That said, anyone who wants to unlock in the future should stay away from iOS 4.1, or as the iPhone Dev Team calls it, "the trap."