Rogue iPhone app store angers Apple
Although the Cydia application store was already a provider of unauthorized apps for the iPhone and Touch, their newly announced business plans have made matters worse.
Jay Freeman, the man behind the Cydia app store that launched last Friday, has decided to take his revenue and revenue-sharing plans at least one step further. He is determined to implement a centralized payment system for apps sold a Cydia, and further to give developers a revenue split at least as good (and perhaps better) than that offered by the official Apple App Store. This can not have improved Apple’s opinion of Cydia.
Most of the apps at Cydia are currently free, with no money paid by the user or to the developer, who also calls the shots on developer payment for those few apps which are not free. When Freeman’s change is initiated, that may well change, especially if he decides to pay more that the 30 percent split currently offered by Apple. Freeman will probably be using a system provided by Rock Your Phone, another rogue company that offers a method to run unapproved apps on even non-jailbroken iPhones.
Even given the huge number of iPhone apps available from Apple (27,000 and growing by some counts), there are a substantial number of apps that iPhone and Touch users want, and that are not provided through official channels. Clients are clamoring for an app that provides access to Sirius Radio and an app to allow users to receive UStream video fees, as example. The former was rejected by Apple a few weeks ago, according to a PC World story. There is even a company planning on apps that would provide adult content to the iPhone and iPod Touch, probably lending a slightly different spin to the name of the latter.
It is rumored that Apple is considering legal action against both Cydia and Rock Your Phone. Apps for the iPhone have become a significant revenue stream for Apple, anticipated to be in the $800 million range for 2009. That is not a stream that Apple will likely want to share with anyone. Apple has already started legal action to battle a EFF-proposed exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would legalize iPhone jailbreaking. It would be very surprising indeed if Apple did not take legal action quickly to keep unauthorized applications off its popular mobile devices.
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March 25th, 2009
The only way to battle Cydia/jailbreaking is to provide what users want (Not just the regular “oh I have an iPhone” user)
- Themes and customizations of springboard
- SBSettings
- Many tweaks too many to list. Way too useful.