Hackers have successfully built open source apps like the Apache web-server and Python scripting language for use on the iPhone. Unlocking the phone for use on any network isn't far away, and a host of iPhone-specific applications most definitely not sanctioned by Apple are going to be appearing too.
Gizmodo reported yesterday that hackers working on the iPhone - known to some (idiots) as the Jesus phone - can now run recompiled open source software.
This is a significant step forward for the iPhone hacking crowd, who have been picking away at the device ever since its launch, silencing more and more of the "you'll never do it" sceptics as days go by.
They're doing this because Apple - Father of the Jesus phone - decided for "security" reasons not to let 3rd parties develop applications for the device. You gotta go through God if you want an app releasing on the iPhone.
Of course, while security may well be one of the reasons for banning 3rd party apps, there's always another way to compromise the phone's security, and with all eyes on the device, Apple will likely be caught in a cat and mouse hole-plugging race for the life of the device.
What is interesting is that this 3rd party lockout is very much Apple's style. One of the reasons the PC prospered over the Mac in days of yore was because companies were able to clone the IBM PC's BIOS to create "IBM compatible" computers. Apple made sure doing that to the Mac was illegal.
So Apple hasn't learned its lesson yet. All that's going to happen now is the hackers will eventually create some lovely tools for getting whatever apps people want installed onto the iPhone, and the underground of 3rd party apps will grow and grow.
Except, with the knowledge-sharing power of the web, everybody will know about it, so it'll be about as underground as the summit of Everest. Apple's unlikely to back down on its decision, stubborn as it is, so in the next few months it'll be made to look a fool.
Your children will denounce you, Apple.
