Apple parts ways with hacker famous for iPhone ... Apple parts ways with hacker famous for iPhone jailbreaking

Nicholas Allegra, who was hired last year after gaining fame at JailBreakMe, was let go after not responding to an e-mail offering to extend his employment.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET )

Apple's experiment with employing a hacker famous for jailbreaking the iPhone has ended.

Nicholas Allegra, also known as Comex, was hired at Apple after gaining fame with the JailBreakMe, a Web site that simplified the process of removing Apple-installed protections from the phone -- a practice Apple opposes. When Apple hired him as an intern in August 2011, Allegra was a high-profile member of the jailbreaking community, regularly publicizing security vulnerabilities in Apple's iOS software.

However, Apple ended the 20-year-old Brown University student's employment last week, Allegra revealed today.

"So... no point in delaying. As of last week, after about a year, I'm no longer associated with Apple," he tweeted this afternoon. "As for why? Because I forgot to reply to an email," he wrote in a follow-up tweet.

"I wasn't too happy about it, but it didn't seem like I was able to fix it," he told Forbes. "So that's what it is."The e-mail he didn't reply to was an offer to extend his employment at Apple as a remote intern, Allegra told Forbes. After not responding to the original e-mail, he learned that the offer had been rescinded.

CNET has contacted Apple for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

Hackers have proven to be popular hires at tech companies these days. Charlie Miller, famous for his hacks on the iPhone and MacBook Air, joined Twitter last month, and well-knownPlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz, a.k.a. Geohot, had a brief stint at Facebook last year.

Apple gives most of its top execs $60M bonuses

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

It's bonus season at Apple.
A flurry of new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Apple's top executives getting bonuses with big payouts that hinge on them staying with the company through the end of 2016.
The company on Wednesday doled out 150,000 shares each to most of its senior vice presidents, short of recently-minted SVP Eddy Cue, who received a slightly smaller 100,000-share bonus, and design guru Jonathan Ive, who is an SVP, but does not fall under the SEC's section for directors, officers, and principal stockholders. That works out to just over a $60 million payday to those who got the 150,000 shares, with Cue's cut coming out to a little more than $40 million, all based off today's closing price.
Those who got the 150,000 shares will reach 50 percent vesting come June 21, 2013, with the other 50 percent fully vesting on March 21, 2016. The filings show that 25,000 of Cue's shares vest on September 21, 2014, with the rest vesting two years later. With all of these, the bonus is contingent on the executives continuing to work at the company.
"Our executive team is incredibly talented and they are all dedicated to Apple's continued success," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling in a statement. "These stock grants are meant to reward them down the road for their hard work in helping to keep Apple the most innovative company in the world."
Though Cue's bonus is less than the others, it's his second major bonus in the past few months. Cue was awarded 100,000 restricted stock units when he was promoted to SVP status at the beginning of September to oversee Apple's iTunes Store, iCloud, iAd, and iBookstore. Cue, who is a 22-year Apple veteran, helped create the company's first online store in 1998, and Apple's iTunes Music Store in 2003--the latter being the business that would become the foundation for the App Store and iBookstore, places where Apple sells other digital goods.
Here's a full breakdown of the bonuses by executive:
Bruce Sewell -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent vest on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Jeffrey Williams -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Philip Schiller -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Peter Oppenheimer --150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Robert Mansfield -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Scott Forstall -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Eddy Cue -- 100,000 shares, 25 percent vest September 21, 2014, 100 percent September 21, 2016.

 comment from Apple.