Yes, many other companies do it to, but others do not. I'm not singling Apple out here.

Also the Apple patent for my first point was hardware that literally stops your phone from being able to make calls, or completely disables music you may be listening to on an iPod.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patentl...g-program.html

On the note of Jailbreaking. Trying to get free stuff? A whole slew of Reasons to Jailbreak have nothing to do with trying to get free stuff. Many people out there want to modify a device the way they wish because it's theirs. Apple doesn't differentiate those people from the very small "I want free stuff hur hur" group of people.