Ten things Apple can learn from the jailbreaking community and lifestyle

Jailbreaking is as simple as one click with blackra1n.

So, about two months ago now I jailbroke my iPhone again, using blackra1n. I'd previously done it in August, but ended up going back after the update, and because I didn't feel comfortable with it. But now, I'm not looking back. With the advancement of apps available to jailbroken users (be them apps on the springboard, or elsewhere in the background), they have now become an essential part of my mobile digital lifestyle. Backgrounding apps with ProSwitcher (free), or getting around to new places with xGPS (free) are things I now take for granted. And my custom theme (based on Suave)? I don't think I could stand going back to the default look of the iPhone at this point. It just feels so... archaic and tired to me now.

So thinking about it, I managed to come up with 10 things that Apple can learn from the jailbreaking community, and the accompanying "lifestyle". Whether or not anything on my list will ever happen remains to be seen, but if one thing is for sure, Apple needs to at least consider some of these to be taken seriously in the continuing race to market dominance, as their competitors in Android and even Palm's WebOS keep innovating and offering competitive features and designs to consumers.

1. Multi-tasking

Why can Apple's default apps, chiefly the iPod app, run in the background, but third-party apps such as Last.fm, Pandora, or other similar streaming music apps can't? It's obviously not a battery life issue, as Apple has stated in the past, because my jailbroken iPhone is doing just fine with backgrounding apps. Just like the Palm Pre. Infact, the cards interface for multi-tasking works wonderfully on iPhone (with ProSwitcher). Who'd have thought, that something exactly like the tabs in Safari would work for apps?

2. Notifications

Notifications on iPhone are a mess. If another event happens where you receive a notification is displayed, it simply takes priority over the other one, and it's gone. The solution? Make use of the menubar/tray at the top of the screen, as a way to handle notifications from any app, native or otherwise. Android has a pull-down drawer with notifications, and on jailbroken iPhones you can download and install GriP, Growl for iPhone, which is so far the best notification system yet, although it's still not perfect. However, combined with statusNotifier it is multiple times better than the default of... well, nothing.

3. Openness

If your MacBook could only run applications approved by Apple, would you still use it? No, of course not. Why should the same idea not apply to mobile devices, whether Apple iSlate (tablet), or iPhone? The thing is, it should apply, simply because you're paying for the device. Subsidized or not, you are paying for the device, and for the connected service (if any). If Apple wants to succeed in the future against open platforms like Android (whether with iPhone or iSlate), they need to open up the OS. Sure, they make more money with a closed system (taking 30% of everything), but it is not the right way to go forward.

4. Customization

One of the things I enjoy most about my jailbroken iPhone is the ability to do whatever I please with it. And while it certainly ties back to the issue of openness, customization is separate simply because it is much more visible. Everyone's computer looks different (unless of course you keep the defaults, but who really does that?). But most everyone's iPhones look the same. I mean, you can set a wallpaper, but then it's only on the lockscreen? What's up with that? Sure it may look ugly in some cases, but so what? Let the user make the decision to make it look ugly. There're tons of themes available to jailbroken users that are damned ugly, but there are some that are simply beautiful. Apple shouldn't be the judge of what you want your device to look like, and they need to eventually relinquish this control.

5. Control

As mobile computing devices such as smartphones like iPhone become more like their bigger brothers (laptops, and desktops), there becomes a point where we want control over our own devices. Just as you can install or do anything you want to your MacBook Pro, you should be able to do the same to your iPhone. If you break it, tough, you don't have a computer, or in this case, a phone. As Apple moves into other types of computing (with their forthcoming tablet), they will be required to change. The app store is too restricting on what you can install on a device you own, and paid for.

6. Improvements

Everyone's gotten an SMS while they had another app open. By logic, you'd think that Apple would allow you to reply to the SMS, and then return to what you were doing. Nope, that'd be asking too much apparently. Instead you have to launch the SMS app, type your reply, and then return to your app, losing whatever you had open. Not only is it annoying, it's also horrible design.

7. Usability

You know the phrase, "it's the little things"? To me, the little tweaks that you can make to your iPhone when it's jailbroken is one of the biggest draws. Going back to improvements above, such as quick reply for SMS, or for rounded corners on the UI just add to the experience. I'm not talking big changes, just little tweaks, that make everything just that much better.

8. Extendability

Allowing apps other than iTunes to interact with iPhone isn't really a good thing for Apple, the company who loves control. But it allows for a better experience for things that Apple does not support syncing or managing. For example, with the xGPS app on jailbroken iPhones, you can use a desktop app to manage the maps stored on the device, something you can't do in iTunes. (Did I mention it's free, and open-source?) And what about if you want to keep read items from an RSS reader synced with a desktop app? The way it is now, you're out of luck, Apple doesn't allow developers to interface with other software, even though it really should. If they did, your mobile device could be even more of an extension of (and companion to), your desktop or laptop computer than it is already.

9. Functionality

I know a lot of people who don't have a need for some of the apps that are included by default with iPhone, yet they're still included on their springboard pages. Oh right, I forgot that you can't hide apps without jailbreaking (for those unaware, install SbSettings to hide apps). How stupid is that? If I don't have a need for the stocks app, why do I want it? And the contacts icon? You can access all that from the phone icon if you want, it's just adding to the clutter. Simple functionality such as this (and again, quick reply for SMS, did you notice that this really irks me?), would greatly improve the user experience.

10. Economics

Apple has the app store, of course, where they get 30% of all the money going through there. That's a lot of money, considering recent stats pointing at 3 billion downloads. Jailbroken users can install apps from Cydia or Rock.app, and in the case of Rock (and maybe Cydia, although I don't know as I usually just stick to Rock), there are apps that cost money. Some of these apps are real important to users, such as BiteSMS, which greatly enhances the SMS functionality of iPhone, from quick compose/reply, and other changes. Now, the reason I mention this, is that if Apple allowed an app like BiteSMS into the app store, they would be making $3 off of every download. And something filling a void left in the iPhone OS, such as no quick reply, would be insanely popular with users. Apple's missing out on this one.