It may be a bit tough to keep track with Apple today, even at the accelerated pace we are used to. However, there have been a few interesting bits of information that we think you should be aware of and that surely impact your apps today and in the future. T-Mobile may be announcing its iPhone this week, iAds may be the income source you should be relying on and then there is the fact the U.S. law has now legalized the jailbreaking of smartphones under certain circumstances.
The new T-Mobile rumor comes via Pocket-lint. Again, a reliable source disclosed that the T-Mobile iPhone will be a reality on July 30. Why July 30? Because that is the day Apple plans to expand the iPhone 4’s availability to 17 more countries and T-Mobile may just fit into that announcement. There was no information on pricing.
A change to the DMCA in the U.S. Code could get you thinking today. There are six scenarios in which consumers are now explicitly allowed to circumvent access controls to digital content, which is generally interpreted as the government’s ok to jailbreaking your iPhone and “liberating” other phones as well. Our conclusion is that the new addition basically opens the door to jailbreaking has many implications that may affect you even if you ignore this new law and stay with Apple’s guidelines.
Circumventing jailbreak blockers is now legally permitted through “Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.”
As in so many cases, this new law can be interpreted and most certainly will be bent left and right. It is important to see that jailbreaking is only legal if a user tries to run an application that is otherwise blocked – unauthorized apps that are not sold through the App Store. Breaking the software to run the phone on another network is not covered per se. That indicates that Apple will not change its warranty guidelines and they warranty will be void if jailbreaking occurs.
The law does not require Apple to explicitly allow jailbreaking and remove jailbreaking hurdles. Apple simply has to tolerate the ongoing jailbreaking sport and consumers who actually jailbreak their devices to run unauthorized devices. The code change makes it lawful to circumvent any controls that are designed to block jailbreaking. That’s it.
Apple’s major concern of such a law is that potentially unsafe applications can now be run on iPhones and affect other applications as well. The tight control Apple has over the app environment is somewhat impaired and developers will have to recognize that potentially malicious applications can affect all other applications on an iPhone as well. Protecting your app may be evolving as a new topic we should be thinking about more seriously.
On the other side, outside sales open new opportunities for those who believe it is economically beneficial to sell apps through other channels than the App Store. However, several sources have raised the general earnings potential through app stores anyway and other income sources may be something you really should be thinking about. Forrester analyst Thomas Husson wrote earlier today that Apple has made just $429 million in revenue from the App Store so far and that the bottom line isn’t exactly significant to Apple. Husson says that it is likely that “a significant number of independent developers have not recouped their investments via the current revenue-sharing model. “ Also, Husson says that there may be very limited interest from consumers to pay for apps.
The analyst believes that App Stores (other than Apple) will have to change to make their service more beneficial to all participants. He said that stores need to be more explicit about the addressable audience, create a viable business model for third parties, provide marketing and merchandising tools, offer a wide choice of payment and pricing options, show a local content catalog and look at other sources of inspiration – and not just Apple. So, if Apple is not the entire solution, there may be an opportunity now for other stores that carry “unauthorized” apps. If they are able to address current shortcomings, we may just see a new generation of App Stores developing in the very near future.