As reported by ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Larry Dignan this afternoon, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was able to secure special dispensations from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which now effectively legalizes SIM unlocking and Jailbreaking, the procedures which “Free” cell phones and mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad from a carrier lock as well as permit the installation of applications outside of Apple’s App Store.

Larry feels that the immediate impact of this ruling will do very little, at least immediately, to alter the application landscape for iOS devices. But I’m not so sure.