You maybe wondering what the latest version of Apple’s mobile OS has to do with Linux. As set out on this page, you can now connect your iPhone to your Linux box and sync music, back it up, add ringtones to it, and tether it. One thing that always is of concern when dealing with Apple is the extent to which Apple might break “unauthorised” access to “your” device with a new OS update. As an avid user of the tethering ability of the iphone with my Linux laptop, I was a little skeptical about upgrading my phone to the new “iOS” 4. Given that iOS 4 brought the iPhone on a par with technology from the mid 2000′s with multitasking and spell checking, it was an upgrade I was very keen to see on my phone.

However, I needn’t have worried. As is often the case with open source software, the developers were ahead of the game, and on the same day as iOS4 was released, the libimobiledvice developers had released a minor update to libimobiledevice for latest release. Having updated my various packages, I can happily say that internet tethering is working like a charm still, so I’m a happy camper. Unfortunately there are a few casualties as well.

I understand that music syncing is no longer working, however, this should be fixed very soon. Also, the sbmanager application doesn’t display folders – presumably this may be updated at some time in the future.

That being said, the iPhone ecosystem around libimobiledevice is gathering momentum. You can now activate, update and restore your phone using libimobiledevice. I haven’t tested this, but it is a big step towards getting the iPhone fully supported on Linux. In addition, there is now a kio slave for KDE to communicate with the iPhone.

Despite the increased market penetration of Android in the mobile phone space, there is still a massive user base for iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads. If libimobiledevice can provide a mechanism for these users to use their devices with a Linux desktop, then this creates fewer barriers to Linux adoption.