First Windows Phone 7 jailbreak tool ChevronWP7 hits web

The fact it's taken just over a month for a jailbreak tool for Windows Phone 7 to hit the web is either evidence of an easily expendable hole in the platform's security, or demand for such a tool in the first place.

Given the popularity of jailbreaking on iPhone, if it's the latter, Microsoft might well be onto a good thing.

Chasing Chevron

The tool itself dubbed ChevronWP7 is being touted by its creators as a tool for experimental apps, rather than piracy.

On its website, ChevronWP7 is described as a key to the Windows Phone 7 homebrew community, given consumers a chance to experience the set up developers have access to.

"Unlocking allows the sideloading of experimental applications that would otherwise can't be published to the Marketplace, such as those which access private or native APIs," creators Rafael Rivera, Chris Walsh and Long Zheng say of their tool.

"We've taken the pain out of the process involved and put together a super simple executable that will allow anyone to unlock any WP7 device on the market using a USB cable and just a couple clicks."

Dodgy downloads?

Given Microsoft's ban on third party app stores, ChevronWP7 - like similar tools on iPhone - has been afforded some legitimacy, being the only way for users to get software onto their handset without using Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Microsoft's official marketplace itself is about to surpass the 3,000 app mark, with more than 15,000 developers registered to work on the platform.

[source: Engadget]