The groundwork for an iOS 5.1 jailbreak has been laid, according to jailbreak developer pod2g. He took to Twitter in the wee hours of this morning to say that all the exploits necessary for a jailbreak of iOS 5.1 had been found. While this was met with excitement by many, jailbreak developer Grant Paul (chpwn) took to Twitter to point out that pod2g’s announcement did not mean that a jailbreak was imminent.

Here’s pod2g’s announcement:

And here’s Grant Paul’s response:

Shortly after the new iPad launched, there was hope that the jailbreak community might not have to wait as long for iOS 5.1 to be jailbroken as we did for iOS 5. The day before the iPad launched, noted iOS hacker Stefan Esser (i0n1c) posted pictures of an iPad 2 running an untethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1. The next day, just hours after the iPad hit stores, another iOS hacker, MuscleNerd, tweeted screenshots of the new iPad running Cydia. Early hopes were dampened somewhat, though, by an announcement from pod2g saying that a public-ready jailbreak tool was still weeks away.

So, while pod2g’s announcement this morning is progress, there is still a lot of work yet to be done before a jailbreak tool is ready for public release.

But, you may ask, what about i0n1c’s jailbreak? After all, he posted pictures of a jailbroken iOS 5.1 iPad 2. Why can’t the Dev Team just use his method? Well, it turns out that Esser is not a fan of free public jailbreaks, which he says go to line the pockets of those who put ads in Cydia and in jailbreak apps. He also pointed out that makers of forensics software (like the XRY software we told you about a couple weeks ago) make money on the Dev Team’s work.

Here’s Esser’s original tweet, which sparked a lengthy conversation between him and pod2g:

When asked what he would do with jailbreak exploits if not make them public, Esser said the following:

He did not say in what way, specifically, such exploits would be an advantage. In any event, it’s now clear why he hasn’t been playing ball with the Dev Team and sharing his jailbreak work. Unfortunately, that means that those of us who rely on the Dev Team to do what they can do so we can enjoy the benefits of jailbreaking will probably have several more weeks – if not months – of waiting ahead of us.

What do you think? Is a freely-available public jailbreak a “waste”? Are you getting impatient to jailbreak your iOS 5.1 device, or update your jailbroken device to iOS 5.1? Let us know in the comments.