Rest in peace, iPad.

As many of you are aware, the Copyright Office recently ruled that the jailbreaking of tablet computers is no longer an exemption from the DCMA. This will undoubtedly have a large number of impacts for both the iPad, and the jailbreaking community. But firstly, what does this mean?

Since the jailbreaking of the iPad is no longer an exemption, it is now *illegal* to jailbreak the iPad. In MuscleNerd's words:

Unlocking is no longer an explicit DMCA exemption :( Neither is jailbreaking iPads (important: no exemption != illegal) is.gd/vkAVQK
— MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) October 25, 2012

What implications will this have though?

For the average jailbreaker, it will mean a complete loss of freedom over their device, as of today.  They will no longer be able to customise their hardware as they see fit - no more SBSettings, and other usability enhancing tweaks. For many, this freedom offered through jailbreaking will be sorely missed, and it is likely many jailbreakers will switch to Android tablets, due to the freedom they allow. 

For Apple, it will mean a reduction in innovation. In the past, Apple has introduced many jailbreak tweaks into its official iOS updates, with one example being the greatly improved notification system in iOS 5. This was originally a tweak named MobileNotifier. See the new lock screen notifications? That could have easily been based off LockInfo. Without the availability of these tweaks, Apple will no longer be able to utilise these fantastic ideas to improve iOS for the iPad. Innovation will therefore be stifled, and so Apple could even lose sales of the iPad, as Android will be further ahead in terms of tablet innovation.

The developers of jailbreak tweaks, themes and apps for the iPad will be hit the harshest from this ruling. For some, the revenue generated in Cydia from sales to iPad owners is one of their main sources of income. Due to this, there will be a number of developers that move away from the platform to more open mobile OS's, such as Android, where there is a guaranteed revenue from modifications and themes. This would also affect iOS as a whole, as these developers also develop high-quality apps released in Apple's App Store, and so the general users of iDevices would be affected from the lessened availability of high-quality apps. In the past couple of hours, there has been at least two themes released in Cydia for the iPad, showing just how active the jailbreak community is around this device.

Many people rely on these jailbreak tweaks in their day-to-day use of their iPad - I for one use IntelliScreenX extensively. Jailbreakers have always been one step ahead of Apple, giving iOS features that cause many Android fans to go green with envy. Without the iPad being jailbroken, it's possible that the jailbreak community will lose some of its diversity, and therefore partially it's lead over Apple's development of iOS.

Whilst the ruling will only last for three years, it is possible that from the lack of innovation generated by the jailbreaking community for the iPad, Android tablets could easily have the largest market share by 2015. Many people will switch to the open nature of Android, since there is no option for total freedom over the iPad any longer, from the legality of producing jailbreaks for it. Apple will continue producing powerful hardware, such as the iPad 4, but will never allow users to have the freedom over their hardware like OS X allows. 

If this freedom isn't allowed, then the likes of the recently released Surface will easily take over it in terms of market.

The iPad is designed to be "a recreational tablet", in the words of Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky. It needs to be an open computer, with freedom over software, if it is to compete.

Until then, rest in peace, iPad.