Apple’s new iPad jailbroken on day one

Apple’s latest tablet has already been jailbroken, according to iPhone Dev Team member Musclenerd. The hacker tweeted out evidence that root access had been acquired on the device, a major step in the jailbreak process and the kernel of any future tool that the team might produce.

In general, these initial steps are followed up by the creation of a tool that makes the process easy for users to download and perform the jailbreak on their own devices. Often newer devices are subject to a ‘tethered’ jailbreak which forces users to plug their devices into a computer while rebooting in order to maintain the jailbroken state.

Jailbreaking is the process by which an iOS devices’ software is altered to allow the installation of third-party applications un-approved by Apple. Some popular examples of these include data tethering applications that are not dependent on carrier support, themes and skins that alter the appearance of a device and various utilities that extend the capabilities of iOS.

There is no word yet when a final tool that is usable by the public might be released, as Musclenerd was careful to emphasize that this was “just a first step, still lots of work to do! No ETA!”