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Up to Speed
So, all of this sounds intimidating. Jailbreak, sign, secpack, unlock, baseband, iBoot, seczone, ZiPhone, pwnage.
Don't worry, this should bring you up to speed.
We'll start with three terms
- activate--to bypass the required iTunes signup
- jailbreak--to allow other applications to run on your phone
- unlock--to allow the use of any mobile phone carrier
Now a timeline
- June 29, 2007 -- iPhone is released. World's most hyped consumer product.
- July 3, 2007 -- DVD Jon first cracks activation. People can use the apps on the phone without a subscription
- July 9, 2007 -- dev team releases jailbreak method. The first use of this is ringtones
- July 20, 2007 -- nightwatch ports a toolchain to the iPhone. The first apps are compiled.
- August 14, 2007 -- First phones are used with other carriers by means of a * SIM hack
- August 21, 2007 -- Installer.app is released, first GUI apps are distributed
- August 23, 2007 -- geohot and team release hardware unlock method.
- September 10, 2007 -- IPSF releases first software unlock method for money.
- September 11, 2007 -- dev team releases iUnlock, first free software unlock
- November 2, 2007 -- jailbreakme is released, bringing jailbreaking to the mainstream iPhone user
- November 15, 2007 -- Bootloader comes out, new iPhones can't be unlocked.
- February 8, 2008 -- geohot releases software unlock for 4.6, Apple states 25% of phones were never activated with AT&T
- February 11, 2008 -- Zibri releases ZiPhone, the all in one unlock, activate, jailbreak solution.
- July 11, 2008 -- iPhone 3G is released
- July 19, 2008 -- dev team releases pwnage, jailbreaking 2.0 software on iPhone and iPhone 3G