Condition Remains GREEN
There may be a release of a Jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1 devices. It is unclear if the release will occur over the next couple of weeks, the tweet was retracted by the original developer.
Jailbreaking and unlocking represent two different issues:
- Unlocking your iOS device allows you to use it on other carriers networks.
- Jailbreaking gives you root access to the device and cripples the code signing of APP's installed.
Keep in mind that in most cases for business users you would never give an user root access to a device, hence you should clearly state that any iOS device or phone for that manner that is provisioned for use by your organization shall not be altered in anyway including jailbreaking or unlocking. Really understand the risk to performing a jailbreak and unlock. The above statement will hold true for a majority of deployments.
Unlocking may be a non-issue since in some markets iOS devices are selling in that state and this may become the case in the United States. Apple has also relaxed their policies which may point to the development of tools for corporate users to manage the devices in a far more robust manner. Currently API's do exist but are highly guarded.