Apple courts iPhone Dev Team member

Apple's attempts to court iPhone hackers may have gone a step further in the past day as key iPhone Dev Team member MuscleNerd revealed that he had visited Apple. An unspecified host at Apple gave him a trip to the company's Cupertino campus. The subject of the trip wasn't mentioned, but the host was clearly aware of his role in jailbreaking iOS devices, having given him a security badge with his alias.

"I had expected it to be my real name," he said.

The timing follows less than a month after Comex took an internship at Apple and three months after a jailbreak notification designer signed on as a permanent employee. In Comex's circumstances, it led to him getting out of hacking iOS, even if he doesn't remain with Apple.

Apple's steps have pointed to a strategy of courting those in the hacking community as a source of talent, more so even than Google or other firms where it would be expected. Its reasons aren't known, but it may be looking to more permanently close the exploits that allow jailbreaks or to get more programmers familiar with low-level or web code. The recruiting could have an incidental if known side-effect of disrupting jailbreak efforts themselves, albeit through positive gestures.

By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, industry, Google, hacks, Android, mobile phones, Apple, iPhone Dev Team