It‘s difficult to get accurate data on how many customers have jailbroken their iPhones. But based on the number of unique device identifiers tracked on his server, Freeman claims that about 4 million, or 10 percent of the 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners to date, have installed Cydia.
Even though Cydia is relatively young, the underground “œJailbreak“ community has existed since the first iPhone launched in 2007. That year, Apple didn‘t yet have an app store for its iPhone, stifling the true potential of the device.
To gain access to Cydia, iPhone owners must jailbreak their smartphones using some freely available tools courtesy of the hacker group iPhone Dev-Team. Given the nature of this procedure, it‘s clear Cydia‘s primary audience consists of nerdy rebels wishing to utilize the full power of their iPhones, restriction-free.
It‘s obvious what‘s driving iPhone customers toward Cydia: Apple‘s rejections and restrictions of major iPhone apps. Most notably, Apple recently banned apps supporting Google Voice.
