Jailbreak, Part 2!
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Back in those dark ages when the only way to add applications to an iPhone/iPod touch was to jailbreak it, one of my favorite apps was a little thing called Mobilecast. The app did one thing, and did it well: It allowed podcasts to be downloaded over WiFi or a cellphone data connection for later listening. I lost Mobilecast when I upgraded to firmware 2.0, but I wasn’t worried, as the developers had announced they were working on a new version that would be available in Apple’s App Store. However, the developer, Frank Lynch, apparently reversed course; after announcing that the beta of the new version would be available as an ad-hoc download, he instead chose to offer it via Cydia, an application installer for jailbroken iPhones.
While I don’t know for sure why Lynch changed his mind, I can hazard a guess: Apple recently killed a similar application, Podcaster, with the explanation that “it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes,” and I assume Lynch decided that skipping the App Store route altogether was the best way to get his application out the door. And he might be right. Apple’s answer to the Podcaster developer has flummoxed Apple fans and critics alike, given that a) the version of iTunes on the iPhone/touch doesn’t support podcasts, and b) the desktop version of iTunes is, well, a desktop program. The ban would be less puzzling if it was part of an overall strategy to limit bandwidth-hungry applications to avoid overtaxing AT&T’s 3G infrastructure. But, in fact, the iPhone and touch come with plenty of built-in media guzzlers, including YouTube and iTunes. And third party apps that stream audio and video have proliferated in the App Store. (Not to mention the fact that the iPhone/touch versions of Pandora and Last.fm make iTunes superfluous for many users.)
What, then, is the issue with podcatchers? At this point, I’m as confused as ever. Did Apple merely take offense at the name “Podcaster” (after all, the company forced one developer to rename a similarly tagged desktop app a while ago)? Does the company want to force users to retrieve podcasts via iTunes as a way of making sure they keep the iPod/desktop iTunes symbiosis alive (a possible solution; I rarely synced my touch when I was using Mobilecast under 1.1)? Or is Apple planning to add podcasts to the mobile version of iTunes, and is merely trying to avoid making its customers pay for something that will soon be available for free (that would certainly be a good outcome for consumers, though it’s still inconsistent, given that there are already plenty of pay apps available that compete with Apple’s free ones, including weather and note-taking tools).
Regardless, I’ve jailbroken my touch, using the idiot-proof QuickPwn application. I’ve got Cydia, Installer, the new Mobilecast beta—and access to a slew of functions that Apple, for whatever reason, has yet to offer via the App Store.
Standard disclaimer: My opinions are mine alone and not those of my employer or anyone affiliated with my employer.

Gotta love the independent 

When I worked for Sondhi Limthongkul 