The developer of Apptrckr, an app for jailbroken phones, has said that over four million iPhone users are using his app to download pirated copies of other apps from Apple’s App Store.
Apptrckr’s developer, known only by the name Dissident, a title which kind of gives you an idea of how little he’s into the Apple doctrine, revealed the surprising figures in an interview with AppAdvice, showing that many Apple users are not content to live happily in the walled garden.
Of course, there are many more millions of people who have not jailbroken their phones or downloaded this app, as there is an estimated 100 million users on iOS devices, but four percent of that number should be significant enough to raise eyebrows at Cupertino.
Also, if we take into consideration that 10 percent of iOS users have jailbroken their devices, and that this app requires a jailbroken device, it means a whopping 40 percent of jailbreakers download pirated apps. If Apptrckr was available on non-jailbroken devices, which Apple would obviously never allow, we are certain the number of pirated apps would skyrocket. Everyone likes a free lunch.
However, Dissident claims that the program is only designed to give people a “trial” of other apps, not to illegally download and keep them without payment. He believes that many users try out an application in this manner and if they really like it they will go and pay for it, even though they already have the full thing. That’s the same excuse that was doing the rounds in the days of Napster and AudioGalaxy.
Regardless, this is a definite two fingers up to the Reverend St Eve of Jobs. Towards the end of July it was made officially legal to jailbreak your phone, but Jobs still claimed that it was immoral, not to mention the fact that it supposedly aids hackers, criminal gangs, drug lords, terrorists and all the rest of it.
