Saurik, the developer behind Cydia is working on an alternative to the dictatorship of the Apple App Store that will break Apple’s grip on the iPhone. There is not much information about it yet, but I assume this will be a new feature added to Cydia that will let you pay for apps.
Like many of you, I am tired of seeing the best apps rejected from the App Store. Apps like Cycorder or xGPS will never make it to the App Store, unless Apple decides to loosen up on the SDK. This new Cydia Store coming up will finally give a chance to non qualifying apps to be distributed in a semi-controlled environment, while generating revenues for the developers. Of course, you will still need to be on a jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of the Cydia store.
According to the WSJ:
Another small company plans a store called Rock Your Phone for iPhone users who have not yet modified their devices to make it easier to download and buy unauthorized applications. A third start-up is building an online store that specializes in selling adult games for the iPhone.
Yeah, now we’re talking! Bring on the porn!! hehe.
More seriously, I think this initiative is a big step towards freeing your iPhone from Apple’s claws and finally empowering the users to do or install whatever they want on their iPhones.