John Herrman over at Gizmodo wrote this week about Cydia, the software repository available for jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touch devices. The goal of the Cydia team is to allow free and paid-for apps through their store, allowing users to side-step Apple’s official App Store:
Converting Cydia into a proper application store won’t be complicated, and more or less amounts to Freeman adding a centralized payment service to the software. His competitive ambitions, though, aren’t so subtle: He told the WSJ that “the overworking goal is to provide choice” and that he plans on match or beat Apple’s commission for downloaded apps.
I don’t really understand why people are getting worked up about this. The percentage of iPhone users that jailbreak their devices is tiny - most iPhone users will stare blankly if asked about jailbreaking.
Furthermore, people who take the time to jailbreak their phone and run things Apple has deemed off-limits aren’t the type to pay for applications. That aside, Apple has repeatedly taken measures to stop these type of activities over the last 2 years, and this will probably only irk Apple even more.