Apple Asks Toyota to Pull Jailbreak Ad Campaign

ModMyI reports that Apple has asked Toyota to remove a custom Scion theme pack they are offering to jailbroken iPhone users. The custom theme pack was part of a promotional effort by Toyota's advertising company Velti and was launched just a couple of days ago.

Scion, a brand of vehicles manufactured by Toyota, recently developed a custom iPhone theme specifically for jailbroken devices, submitting it to us for hosting in Cydia .

Many felt the move may help legitimize the jailbreak community and also place it in direct competition with Apple's own iAds network in some ways. Jailbreaking is the process by which users can gain complete control of their iOS device. It allows installation of applications outside the App Store as well as custom modifications. Jailbreaking has always been frowned upon by Apple and the process to jailbreak a device is a constantly changing cat-and-mouse game between the Jailbreak community and Apple's software updates.

Apple apparently heard about the campaign and has asked Toyota to pull it.

I received a call from our contact at Velti this evening as well as an email asking me to please take the theme out of Cydia. On the phone, he explained Apple had contacted Toyota and requested they remove the theme and stop the advertising campaign. They (Velti) in turn contacted me relaying the message. The reason Velti listed for the removal request of the theme emailed through our dev portal was "Toyotas making us take it down" Toyota had agreed to do so to "maintain their good relationship with Apple," our Velti contact told me on the phone.