On the one hand, it’s nice to see iPhone hacking get a little mainstream attention in the form of an article in the Washington Post. Mike Musgrove’s piece touches upon the Nintendo emulator designed by Stephen White, White’s subsequent attempt to bring classic shooter Doom to the platform, and the existence of “jailbreak” programs.
Musgrove also speculates that the future of hacking on the iPhone may follow in the footsteps of Sony’s PlayStation Portable, which has long been a popular platform for so-called “homebrew” enthusiasts. Sony has tried to lock out hackers with software updates, but they’ve yet to find a method that hasn’t been circumventable in one way or another.
However, one paragraph struck me as odd:
Hardware manufacturers are usually not happy about such user-created innovations because they can lead to piracy. Why buy a game or a software application if you can download one free?Yes, it can lead to piracy, but at least in the case of the iPhone, it’s not really casual hacking: the methodology is still a little complicated for your average user. Besides, there’s nothing to pirate for the iPhone as of yet: all the software is available to anybody with an iPhone, and it’s not as if those programs can run on any other platform.
At present, Apple’s probably more worried about the security of its platform: gaining access to the file structure and other information that Apple’s kept fenced off will be of interest to security researchers looking for vulnerabilities in the codebase.
At the end of the day, however, I think Musgrove reaches the right conclusions: Apple should be excited to see people so passionate about their platform that they’re willing to do whatever it takes just to make cool things for it.
