Cydia Store selling unlicensed iPhone games and apps
Apple's App Store now has competition
Developer Jay Freeman has updated his Cydia application for jailbroken iPhones to include a store, representing the first serious unofficial competition to Apple's own App Store.
The update was released over the weekend, and includes the Cydia Store. It allows users to browse and buy iPhone apps using Amazon payments, although PayPal support is apparently coming soon too.
The Wall Street Journal ran a big article on Cydia Store and two other unofficial app stores for iPhone: Rock Your Phone, and an unnamed store that plans to sell adult games.
Cydia developer Jay Freeman tells the WSJ that his iPhone-modding software has been installed on around 1.7 million handsets so far, so his store certainly has an audience from day one.
Cydia has already helped some iPhone games barred by Apple to get distribution. For example, Underworld, the drug-dealing game that caused a minor tabloid frenzy last year, but never actually made it to the App Store.
However, it remains to be seen what approach Apple takes to such stores. Freeman tells the WSJ that he has a lawyer standing by: "It's understandable that [Apple] wants to control things, but it has been very limiting for developers and users."
