What does Gatekeeper mean for jailbreaking on iOS?

The sudden (at least to most people) announcement of OS X Mountain Lion this week came with many new features and talking points. One of the most talked-about involves security and the Mac App Store, called Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a new feature in ML that allows the user to select levels of security for his/her computer.

There are many legitimate and extraordinarily talented developers working on jailbreak apps that simply can’t exist in the iOS App Store. But what if Apple allowed them the same privileges it will allow OS X devs? I’d love to see a world in which not only do fantastic apps like LockInfo and SBSettings exist, but in which they can be installed with the equivalent of Apple’s blessing, provided that the dev signs the code with Apple and the user is savvy enough to change the settings in the OS. This kind of a move would definitely show that Apple is serious about enabling creative development on iOS outside of the App Store walls, while still preserving the notion that security is a paramount concern for the platform. It’d be a bold answer to the cries of iOS being a closed system to Android’s open one (a tenuous claim if there ever was one) and in one fell swoop obviate the need for jailbreakers to cling to security holes to run apps and enhancements they’ve grown to love. A more secure platform for Apple, and the freedom to really own your device’s functionality even more seems like a huge win for everyone.

Plenty of people have called for “expert settings” on iOS for years now, so this is not a new idea. But the existence of Gatekeeper in OS X and the strive to unify the platforms experientially leaves at least a little hope that Apple’s getting the message.

< Via @ Seth Clifford >

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