iOS 8
Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the IOS 8 operating system during his keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California June 2, 2014. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith Reuters

Apple is making the first beta build of iOS 8.1 update available to developers this week, likely pointing to an official iOS 8 jailbreak release date by November 2014 at the earliest.

That is if the iOS 8 update will indeed arrive October, which is the month mostly agreed upon by Apple watchers. By next month, Apple Pay will debut and prior to that event an iOS update will surely come to support the iPhone 6 mobile payment feature plus the expected bug fixes.

After 8.1, the next iOS version will not be released until early 2015. An 'operating system roadmap' that 9to5Mac has discovered this week reportedly revealed plans by Apple to release iOS updates that are spread out in three installments.

As mentioned, 8.1 is mostly about Apple Pay. Next to that is 8.2 that the 9to5Mac report attaches to the Apple Watch release. The same software build is meant to deal with the smartwatch's pairing protocol with the iPhone 6.

It is suggested that iOS 8.2 will touchdown anytime in the first quarter of 2015, coinciding perhaps with the Apple Watch commercial debut.

Then version 8.3 will be pushed out and the target date floating around in the Apple-sphere is between March and April 2015 as it is believed that the software release is mainly for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, specifically bringing support for the tablet's split-screen multitasking features.

So between the iOS 8.1 October rollout and the next build, jailbreakers have around two months and up to unlock Apple's mobile OS. The jailbreak community normally expects the arrival of iPhone and iPad unlocking tool after the deployment of a major iOS update.

If the same pattern applies for iOS 8 then the 8.1 update could be followed by the first jailbreak release with November this year shaping up as the earliest launch date. The latest would be before 2014 ends, which is the same schedule that Team Evad3rs has observed when it issued Evasi0n7 in late December 2013.

As Evad3r team member @MuscleNerd had earlier hinted that iOS 8 exploits are present and therefore the software can be jailbroken, it is unthinkable that the famed developers will wait out until early 2015 before giving jailbreak fans the key to unlock their iPhone 6 and 2014 iPads.

However, it remains a possibility that Evasi0n8 will be beaten to the race by a rival group - the Pangu team from China. Recall that Pangu picked up where the Evad3rs left a void and released iOS 7.1.2 jailbreak.

And it looks like the Chinese hackers are making serious efforts to win over more jailbreak fans as recent reports indicated that work is now underway for an iOS 8 jailbreak. With the iOS 8 update practically mapped out for the group (and for Team Evad3rs as well), a compass is directing the path to take, likely fast-tracking the jailbreak completion.

The best-case scenario for an iOS 8 jailbreak release date is Christmas season of 2014 and the fun part about it is answering this question: Who plays Santa first between the Evad3rs and Pangu?