Since its inception, Apple Computer Inc.’s success has depended on its ability to walk the fine line of maintaining its proprietary technologies without alienating the people who make the company successful: those who develop software for Apple devices and end users who ultimately buy and use Apple products. There are countless well-documented instances of the company’s stingy approach drawing the ire of consumers and developers alike. How well the industry giant walks that fine line is questioned again, as Apple’s strategies have inadvertently spawned a fast-growing cottage industry of developers and consumers who find it necessary to look beyond the app store to satisfy. your iPhone application needs and fulfill your desires for functionality that Apple has deliberately restricted.

Apple’s strict regulation of the apps they will allow in its app store has been sending waves of dissent through the ranks of iPhone fans around the world since the company launched its app store in July 2008 and began rolling out. make political decisions regarding the applications created. by independent developers. We have seen countless apps that have been denied inclusion in the app store for mysterious, vague, overly censorious, anti-competitive, and unevenly applied reasons.

Apple further lost favor with free-thinking tech enthusiasts with its spirited legal battle over jailbreaking the iPhone, which they lost. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been petitioning federal regulators for years to add an exemption to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to make it legal for consumers to customize the iPhone’s operating system to allow it to run any application that the consumer wants, and whether Apple did it. approved the application or not. In typical fashion, Apple vigorously opposed this proposal and fought it at high cost, arguing that modifying the iPhone’s operating system ultimately creates a derivative work that infringes its copyright. Federal regulators were unequivocal in their response. They stated in no uncertain terms that it is absolutely legal for consumers to “jailbreak” an iPhone once they have purchased it from Apple.

The cumulative result of discontent with Apple’s app store policies combined with the now perfectly legal jailbreak possibilities is that there is a growing movement among many of the more progressive developers to avoid the app store altogether and find new ones. means to distribute your iPhone applications. to end users. After all, you no longer need to have your app in the app store to have a legitimate business iPhone app to offer to consumers. One only needs to spend a few minutes on a jailbroken iPhone to see more than enough evidence of this trend. Cydia is one of the leaders in jailbreak software, and its store is packed with apps, hacks, modifications, and tweaks that would never be allowed in the app store. You can install themes that customize the entire look of the iPhone operating system, find apps that spoof caller ID, add custom video ringtones (so that every time a particular person calls you, your phone displays a video that you selected) and many others.

Further evidence of this growing trend can be seen in the recent launch of Microgaming’s new iPhone casino, which allows players (currently outside the US only) to play adapted versions of classic casino games for real money. This state-of-the-art, full-featured mobile casino was developed specifically for the iPhone by the world’s largest software company of online casinos (in partnership with mobile specialists Spin3), and with these deep pockets they chose to develop a browser. . -App-based that bypasses Apple’s app store entirely, creating an iPhone casino that works without the need to download or install any software.

It remains to be seen whether or not Apple will modify its course to meet the needs of this expanding segment of its iPhone customer base. Regardless, one thing is for sure: the iPhone release has begun. The Cydia and iPhone casinos are just the beginning. Right now a new generation of iPhone apps is being created that will push the limits of this revolutionary device to its full unbridled potential.