Why is the blackberry headphone jack sometimes locked? How do you unlock it? (or is it just broken?)

“Hi, I am new to this whole bb scene. Anyways, I am having problems with my tour…the headphones that came with the phone dont fit in the headphone jack. No headphones fit in the jack. Is anybody else having this problem? LMK thanks.”

and

“Put me down for my 4th Tour due to headphone jack issues.

Here’s what i’ve found. Different brands of headphones will have slight variations in the contact points. Some will slide right in and others won’t go in at all. If you notice there’s a brass contact point right as you push the headphones in… This little contact will get tweeked from time to time. I’ve found that if you push it back down with an extended paper clip that will usually remedy the situation. However, do at your own risk!

In my opinion, total design flaw on the part of RIM. I think they should have addressed it by now and i’m surprised that more users haven’t experienced it.”

From http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-Tour-9630/Tour-Headphone-Jack/td-p/292128

I went to radio shack and got a tiny male-to-female headphone connector that definitely fits the bb. Now I can just plug a non-fitting headphone jack into the connector and I’m good to go.