iPhone 5 Release Date: Why Hasn't an iPhone 4 Siri Port Been Released?
Industry experts are wondering why a Siri port for the iPhone 4 has not been released, when developers have been working on Siri ports ever since the iPhone 4S was released.
Developers chpwn and Steve Troughton-Smith, have both released their progress with porting Siri to the iPhone 4, but until now, have not spoken about any plans to offer the port for download.
Developer chpwn, says on his blog that a Siri port cannot be released for download because of copyright infringement.
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According to chpwn, developers currently do not have the information needed to crack the encryption on Apple's firmware (.ipsw) file.
Even if developers were able to get past Apple's encryption, sharing Siri’s code with people that do not own an iPhone 4S is illegal.
"Just from that, you currently must already own an iPhone 4S to install Siri on it without a blatant copyright violation," chpwn said.
Porting Siri onto another device, chpwn also notes, such as the iPhone 4 requires a jailbroken iPhone 4S - an iPhone 4S that has had its code overwritten and its root revealed. That would allow users to install custom codes and applications.
According to chpwn, jailbroken iPhone 4S's are currently not available to the public.
While both hackers previously reported having trouble connecting their Siri ported iPhone 4's to Apple's servers, chpwn reports that both he and Troughton-Smith have now successfully navigated Apple's severs, and are the only two developers to have done so.
Apple has only stated that Siri's program is meant to be exclusive to the iPhone 4S.
Other developers have attempted porting Siri onto the iPad and the iPod Touch, but have only been successful at porting the interface. They have not connected to Apple's servers.
No developer has yet attempted to port Siri to an iPhone 3GS or iPod touch 3G or an iPad on iOS 5, chpwn adds.
