Windows Phone Jailbreak Tool Reaches Download Limit

The “official” Windows Phone jailbreak tool, ChevronWP7, has sold out of tokens to enable users to run homebrew apps.

The $9 tool, which allows users to install any application on their Windows Phone device, first emerged in November 2010. Despite  initial concerns, it was re-released late last year with Microsoft’s blessing.

Jailbreak approval

ChevronWP7 spokesman confirmed that although they had requested more tokens from Microsoft once they had reached certain milestones, but 10,000 had been the agreed maximum limit since day one.

The first iteration of the tool allowed Windows Phone handsets to run any application, not just those approved by Microsoft for sale through the Windows Phone Marketplace. Chevron WP7 was not piracy-enabling, said its developers, but allowed corporations to create proprietary applications that would not otherwise be released, such as those which require access to private or native APIs.

It also allowed companies to bypass the $99 (£64) fee needed to join Microsoft’s App Hub developer programme, the other route avaliable for those who want to release unsigned apps for the Windows Phone platform.

Although Microsoft disapproved of the tool in its original form, it encouraged the development team to rework it on the computing giant’s own terms. ChevronWP7 responded by initiating talks with Microsoft in order to convince it of the homebrew potential of Windows Phone.

The product of these discussions was the re-emergence of the application  the form of ChevronWP7 Labs, which cost $9 (£5.78). However, the development team’s agreement with Microsoft stipulated that it was unable to sell more than 10,000 tokens.

The team is currently discussing whether or not it wants to increase his number, but confirmed that Microsoft was not involved with these discussions at this stage.