There comes a time when an iPhone just isn’t enough. Sure, it’s the best phone on the planet, but some users want to go beyond Apple’s arbitrary rules and restrictions. Maybe they want to run the phone on a network other than AT&T, or maybe they want to use apps that you just can’t find on the App Store. When that happens, it’s time to go underground.

For the iPhone newbie, the unofficial side of the device can be a scary, confusing place. Even the terms, like “jailbreaking” and “unlocking,” sound ominous. But for some users, entering the underground wasn’t as much of a choice, as it was a necessity.  

The Unlocking of the iPhone

For anyone who didn’t live in a country with an official OG iPhone release, unlocking was necessary. For example, until the introduction of the iPhone 3G, every single phone operating in Canada was hacked, either by its user or a third party. Demand for the phone spread far beyond the official iPhone country borders, so one of the first questions asked when the original iPhone was introduced last year was how easy it would be to unlock the phone and use it on networks other than AT&T. It turned out that unlocking the phone, while not without complications, happened more quickly than anyone expected. Only a few weeks after the iPhone was released, Jon Lech Johansen, AKA DVD Jon (so named because he cracked the copy protection code on DVDs while still a teenager) announced he’d cracked the code that would allow third-party applications to run on the phone, a practice known as “jailbreaking.” Soon afterwards, New Jersey teenager, George Hotz announced he’d unlocked the iPhone, allowing it to be used on networks other than AT&T. Another group of hackers, iPhoneSimFree, soon announced that they had unlocked the phone, and began selling unlock keys to resellers.
 

Jailbreaks and Unlocks for the Masses

The turning point in the iPhone underground came with the announcement from a different group, the iPhone Dev Team. They not only unlocked the phone, but would provide it for free to the public. From there the battle ping-ponged back and forth between Apple and the hacking community, every time Cupertino closed a hole in their phone’s operating system, hackers would find another vulnerability and exploit it.

The Unauthorized App Store

So what can a newly unlocked, jailbroken iPhone do that a standard iPhone can’t? Up until the introduction of the 2.0 firmware, quite a bit. Apple initially pushed for users to get added value out of the iPhone by using web apps. Though some excellent web apps were and continue to be created, the only way to get native apps directly onto the phone was to jailbreak it and void the warranty.

And there were soon plenty of apps to choose from. From Twitter clients, to apps that downloaded podcasts directly on to the device, a flourishing of creativity followed the opening of the iPhone. Apple got the message, and CEO Steve Jobs soon announced Apple would release an SDK for the iPhone, giving third-party developers the ability to create apps for the upcoming iPhone Software 2.0.

Now that Apple has opened the iPhone, many of the original iPhone developers have gone legitimate releasing their previously unofficial apps in the iTunes App Store. Still, even with the explosion of apps available through the App Store, some apps simply aren’t allowed, like emulators to play classic video games, or VoIP applications that work over a cell network. And if you don’t want a three year contract, you’re out of luck unless you opt to unlock.

The Future of iPhone Hacking

Despite the inevitable slowdown, as iPhone Software 2.0 steals the underground’s thunder, new tools are still being released. Pwnage Tool 2.0 from the iPhone Dev Team, is an easy-to-use tool that unlocks and jailbreaks first-generation iPhones and will jailbreak, but not unlock, the iPhone 3G, at least not yet.

Even without prying open their phone’s OS, some iPhone users and developers are finding that extending the capabilities of the device is completely at the whim of Apple, Inc. Take the case of Netshare, the Nullriver application which allows users to tether their iPhone to their computer and use it as a 3G modem. The program, while initially cleared by Apple, has disappeared from the App Store, and it remains a mystery whether Netshare will ever reappear. If it doesn’t, it will become a prime candidate for installation on jailbroken iPhones.

For now, the iPhone underground seems to have reached a plateau. Many of the capabilities made possible by jailbreaking the phone are available at the App Store, and the spread of the iPhone all over the globe has put a dent in the need to unlock the device. But as the recent Netshare controversy has shown, all it takes is a compelling app to tip the scales in favor of a journey underground.