Apple Warns iPhone OS Users of Jailbreaking

[sanmanc]

Yesterday in support article HT3742 Apple announced that modifying ("jailbreaking") the iPhone OS may cause instability in their devices. Users that have made such modifications to their iPhones and iPods have had encountered numerous issues. Apple provides the following examples of these issues:

Device and application instability: Frequent and unexpected crashes of the device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss of data.

Unreliable voice and data: Dropped calls, slow or unreliable data connections, and delayed or inaccurate location data.

Disruption of services: Services such as Visual Voicemail, YouTube, Weather, and Stocks have been disrupted or no longer work on the device. Additionally, third-party apps that use the Apple Push Notification Service have had difficulty receiving notifications or received notifications that were intended for a different hacked device. Other push-based services such as MobileMe and Exchange have experienced problems synchronizing data with their respective servers.

Compromised security: Security compromises have been introduced by these modifications that could allow hackers to steal personal information, damage the device, attack the wireless network, or introduce malware or viruses.

Shortened battery life: The hacked software has caused an accelerated battery drain that shortens the operation of an iPhone or iPod touch on a single battery charge.

Inability to apply future software updates: Some unauthorized modifications have caused damage to the iPhone OS that is not repairable. This can result in the hacked iPhone or iPod touch becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone OS update is installed.

Apple notes that the unauthorized modification of the iPhone OS is a violation of the end user agreement and many deny service to any modified iPhone or iPod.

Devices affected by this are iPhone, iPod touch, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch (2nd generation).

Could this be a precursor for other operating systems?