Apple has been battling jail-breakers of its devices ever since the first time someone managed to gain root access to the iOs - and thus escape the restrictions that Apple places on the devices. Now, likely to Apple’s chagrin, it appears that one major advertiser, Toyota, is targeting this group of renegade Apple product users with an ad on Cydia, an app store for the jailbroken iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

ModMyi broke the news of the ad, noting that it makes sense given the growing size of the jailbreak community, roughly sized at four to five million. The ad is for Scion and it is the first a major corporation has positively spotlighted the jailbreak scene, the site said. Future scenarios, it continued, could include a parallel universe in which companies, sports teams, and schools had their own themes in Cydia as well as their apps in the AppStore.

An Unhappy Apple

This development, even from one company, will surely displease Apple, 9 to 5 speculated. Toyota qualifies not only as a potential iAd partner but a premium one at that and to have it adverting on a platform it doesn’t control, targeting the users it has gathered, must be galling.

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Indeed, new statistic from The Nielsen Co. shows how much of a potential loss this ad could eventually be for Apple - especially if other auto makers follow suit. Its new Global AdView Pulse data reports automotive ad spending increased 20.3% in 2010, with six automotive companies among the top 20 global advertisers in 2010. (via MarketingCharts).