Jailbroken iOS Devices Declining In China

The amount of jailbroken iOS devices in China has been on the decline over the past year according to Umeng. China saw its peak of jailbroken devices in the second quarter of 2011 when roughly 51 percent of all iOS devices in the country were running a modified or jailbroken firmware. Umeng has just released new numbers that show that, as of now, just over 42 percent of iOS devices in China are jailbroken. If you’re curious, there are currently over 200 million iOS and Android devices in China.

Apparently jailbreaking is down in China because Apple recently allowed Chinese users to use local bank cards to charge iTunes purchases, making it less desirable to pirate apps. The fact that newer iOS devices are unable to be jailbroken has also likely accounted for the drop in jailbroken devices in China.

China doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to piracy. Copyright laws are hardly enforced, allowing almost anyone to upload and download pirated versions of iOS apps to and from the net. Since jailbreaking is down in the country, it will be more attractive for developers to start bringing their software into China without fear of losing funds to piracy.

Andrew is a geek, Apple enthusiast, blogger and coffee lover from Chicago.