[therein]

Very impressive indeed. And the GP is right about many employees even getting these little details wrong. The answer is definitely a lot more complicated.

As far as I remember, the AppleConnect aspect of it is only if you want to connect to the corp NFS where they have the IPSW. And beyond that I think I was able to use PurpleRestore on production silicon by switching the device connected to the host at the right point in time and leaving my phone in a really odd state that had shocked everyone at the Apple store I brought it to. They were so confused that I had to explain to them where I work for them to calm down.