Apple users have been desperate for a new iOS jailbreak ever since their devices were updated to iOS 7, but will the growing crowd fund prize be enough to speed up the process?

Regardless of that answer, the jackpot just keeps on climbing; the prize is now closing in on $10,000. As the grand total continues to grow for the Device Freedom Prize, we also have to wonder whether developers will just simply wait even longer to come forward. The longer they wait, the more the prize fund grows, the more it appears to be a lose-lose situation.

The task of jailbreaking has grown to be increasingly difficult over the years as Apple has cracked down on security. However, developers have maintained that they are working on it and that they may be close to cracking the code.

Many people are speculating that we will have the new jailbreak by some point in 2014, but the actual release date -- or month -- is not yet certain. Who knows? Maybe this crowd fund will continue to grow until the pay is so high that developers won't want to wait any longer. The developers would have to make sure to follow the exact rules of the crowdfund -- and there are, indeed, plenty of specific rules -- or else the jailbreak would be invalid and the wait would continue.

The fact that users have been so desperate for a jailbreak has been well documented on Twitter. Apple fans have pleaded and pleaded for a jailbreak and they've been tweeting at the Evad3rs, which is the jailbreaking group that has been responsible for previous iOS jailbreaks -- free of charge.

It may take a bit longer, but we should see a jailbreak sometime in the first half of 2014. In the meantime, we can watch as the seemingly pointless crowd fund jackpot continues to soar.

We'll leave off with this important question: What if developers already have the jailbreak ready for release but are just waiting for the jackpot to grow?