Apple banning jail-breakers from App Store

Apple appears to be banning people associated with jail-breaking its products from using the App Store.

Sherif Hashim, the developer who successfully hacked the iPhone, told technology blog Redmond Pie that he could no longer use the App Store after he received a message that he was blocked for "security reasons".

"'Your Apple ID was banned for security reasons.' That's what I get when I try to go to the App Store. They must be really angry," he said in a Twitter post.

Another iPhone jail-breaking specialist, who goes under the name 'iH8sn0w', reported via Twitter that he too is banned from the App Store. 'iH8sn0w' developed the Sn0wbreeze application that gives iPhone users full control over their handset.

"@sherif_hashim lol, they did that to my ih8sn0wyday[@t]googmail.com too. (right after I posted XEMN)," he said in a Twitter post.

It is too soon to say whether banning identified iPhone hackers will become policy at Apple, but the banning of two high-profile jail-breakers is unusual, to say the least.

Apple had no comment at the time of publication.