It has been a couple of months since Apple released the 2.0 iPhone firmware and launched the iPhone Application Store and now there are over a thousand 3rd party applications that have passed through Apple’s approval process.
Even so, there are still great reasons to install unofficial 3rd party apps, like IM apps and other things that run in the background. Eventually too, there is the hope of a network unlock for the 3G iPhone.
The ever-awesome iPhone Dev team recently released an updated version of the PwnageTool for OS X which lets you jailbreak iPhones running the 2.0.2 firmware to run third party applications. For more information, and a link to the file, I refer you to their website:
blog.iphone-dev.org
PwnageTool 2.0.3 is available. This version provides support for iPhone/iPod firmware 2.0.2 5C1, it has an updated Installer.app beta b6 and contains a new .de localization for our large amount of German friends. The application SHOULD ONLY be downloaded as a .tbz file from our servers and should NOT be decompressed using the application called “the unarchiver” this breaks permissions within PwnageTool just use the standard OS X built in ‘Archive Utility’ to decompress. The SHA1 sum of PwnageTool_2.0.3.tbz is 91e670e0c623cd43f5e8cfbfaae6c23d98d8f31b
The awesome iPhone dev team has done it again. They’ve released an updated version of Pwnage that “Jailbreaks” iPhones running the iPhone 2.0 software. Jailbreaking allows you to install unofficial 3rd party apps. It works with both the original iPhone running the 2.0 OS, and the 3G iPhones.
Apps from the official iPhone Application Store on iTunes can’t have certain functions. They can’t run in the background, they can’t do VoIP over the cellular network and they certainly can’t unlock the phone for use on other carriers.
Unless you have a good reason too, I’d hold off jailbreaking your iPhone We’re still waiting for an updated version of Install.app to make it easy to install unofficial apps again. An unlock is still in the future too.
It looks like Apple didn’t plan the rollout of the iPhone 2.0 software quite as well as they could. People are getting errors from iTunes part way through the upgrade, leaving them with an un-activated iPhone that can only make emergency calls.
The error reads:
We could not complete your iTunes Store Request. An unknown error occurred (-9838). There was an error in the iTunes store, please try again later.
If it were my phone (and I’m so glad it is not), I would disconnect the phone, wait a bit, and then reconnect and see what happens when it tries to activate again. I’d keep doing that every 5-15 minutes until it succeeds.
Anticipation of iPhone 2.0 at Apple WWDC tomorrow has a lot crazy rumors floating around.
One of the more interesting rumors is that Apple is going to allow carriers to subsidize the iPhone the same way they subsidize all sorts of other phones, in exchange for signing up for a 2 year contract. If they do, I expect iPhone sales to go crazy, but what’s even more interesting is the possibility that we’ll be able to buy an unsubsidized phone without it being locked to a carrier.
The impact on US users would be pretty minimal right now because T-mobile is the only other national carrier with an iPhone compatible GSM network. What’s more, T-mobile has done very little to upgrade their network to 3G, which supports faster download speeds and is one of the major features people expect from the next iPhone. Still, it would be nice to have a choice.
It’s a more significant issue for US users who travel internationally, since it will let them use carriers in the countries they visit directly, rather than having to go through AT&T who marks-up the same service. It’s also a big deal for people who live outside the US. One carrier already offers the iPhone unlocked, but the price is crazy, 2x the price with a contract, and something close to $1000 US, if I remember right.
We’ll have to see, because it’s very likely that the next iPhone is going to be harder to hack and unlock than the last version.
It’s been a while since we’ve posted, but I’m thrilled that the iPhone App Store is going to be open for business soon. They’ll be announcing details at the WWDC tomorrow. Chances are good that the store will be open for business soon after the announcement.
The App Store unlocks the iPhones potential by officially supporting 3rd party applications. There are already some big publishers lining up to release official iPhone apps, including game maker EA, but I’m most excited to see what novel applications small teams of programmers come up with.
