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Underground App Store Courts the Jailbroken

Posted by kdawson on from the bring-down-the-towers dept.

PainMeds writes "Apple's stepped-up and controversial rejections are helping to foster competition in the app store marketplace. According to an article by Wired, developers aren't taking AppStore rejection lying down, but are turning to the hacking community's repository system for the iPhone to launch an app store of their own. The 4-month-old Cydia store is yielding notably higher sales for a few application developers than Apple's AppStore, and is reportedly running on over 4 million Apple iPhone devices, with perhaps 350,000 connected at any one time. In this store, developers are distributing applications they've written that push the limits of Apple's normal AppStore policies, with software to add file downloads to Safari, trick applications into thinking they're on Wi-Fi (for VoIP), and enhance other types functionality. You'll also find the popular Google Voice application, which was recently rejected by Apple. Third party application development has been around since 2007, when the iPhone was originally introduced, and became so popular that O'Reilly Media published a book geared toward writing applications before an SDK was available. The Cydia store acts as both a free package repository and commercial storefront to third-party developers."

6 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Bye Bye Monopoly by GreenTech11 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And there goes Apple's monopoly. I can't say this is a bad thing, it gives users another option, without severely damaging Apple.

    --
    Laughter is the best medicine, except if you have a broken rib.
    1. Re:Bye Bye Monopoly by Tyr_7BE · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most people won't do it though. Sure your average college kid or whatever has no problem downloading an app to jailbreak the phone, but joe average on the street doesn't tend to flock towards anything involving firmware modification. They buy a phone, they use the phone, and that's all they do.

  2. Competition? What is that? by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Normally Apple is on a totally different playing field from any competition... Not here, and it will be interesting to see how they deal with this. :) I am betting lawyers and politicians.

  3. The Obvious Truth by geegel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Those that hack or pirate always have it better. No DRM, no restrictions on what software you can install, no need for physical media and the list goes on. Being a nice customer simply doesn't pay anymore these days.

    --
    right...
  4. Isn't it ironic... by 2obvious4u · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That the company trumpeting how 1984 wouldn't be like 1984 was the company to most make it like 1984?

  5. Re:Pros and Cons by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Although you can't really blame Apple for denying Google Voice and similar apps

    You can't really blame Comcast for denying access to hulu.com or tnt.com or scifi.com.....

    Just something to think about - the motives for these denials are clear.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall