Microsoft on ChevronWP7: “Don’t Do It Or Else!” Statement for the Record

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Earlier today we told you that there’s a public app ready to help you jailbreak your current Windows Phone 7 smartphone called ChevronWP7. Once you jailbreak the WP7 device using said app you could, in theory, install any apps that aren’t allowed in the official WP7 Marketplace.

But that’s just theory for now, as, unlike the iOS environment, where, besides the official App Store we also have the unofficial Cydia app store, Windows Phone 7 users can only get apps from the Marketplace for now. There’s no black market for banned WP7 applications yet, and there might never be one.

First off Microsoft is doing whatever it can to increase its current app count, so chances are that your app, as long as it abides to certain basic rules, will make it into the Marketplace. Secondly since we have no idea how popular this new OS is, and Microsoft isn’t really telling us much about WP7 handsets popularity right now, why should anyone dedicate their time and efforts to building a Cydia-like establishment for WP7 users?

In other words, even if the ChevronWP7 (nice StarGate-like name though) exists and can be used, I don’t see who will really need it other than developers interested in installing and testing their own apps. At least for now!
So the fact that Microsoft (and that’s my point here) is coming out to tell us not to jailbreak/unlock Windows Phone 7 handsets, is really useless right now, although it had to be done, for the record at least:

“We anticipated that people would attempt to unlock the phones and explore the underlying operating system. We encourage people to use their Windows Phone as supplied by the manufacturer to ensure the best possible user experience. Attempting to unlock a device could void the warranty, disable phone functionality, interrupt access to Windows Phone 7 services or render the phone permanently unusable.”

Needless the say that ChevronWP7 is also said to restore WP7 handsets to factory settings and to jail the device back up as it was when purchased. We’ll also add that jailbreaking/unlocking/rooting is now legal, so anyone can do whatever they want to their WP7 handset.

But hey, at least Microsoft tried, and that statement above had to be made. It’s a also a very important subliminal message Microsoft is sending: Windows Phone 7 is cool enough to be jailbroken, and I say they should be happy to see their new mobile OS got the users’ attention. Imagine Microsoft’s WP7 OS not having been jailbroken, that would have been far worse for Redmond, don’t you think?