Last month, the publisher was set to launch a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple’s iTunes but would pay Time Inc. directly. But Apple rejected the app at the last minute, forcing the Time Warner unit to sell single copies, using iTunes as a middleman, multiple sources tell me. Since then, Time Inc. executives “have been going nuts,” trying to figure out how to get Apple (AAPL) to approve a subscription plan. One of the more desperate suggestions, which apparently didn’t get traction: Pulling the publisher’s apps out of the iTunes store altogether.
The 2010 update of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which established the legality of jailbreaking, changes the parameters of this discussion. It is now clearly and absolutely legal to modify the firmware in a digital device to override any lockout the manufacturer has implemented to try to restrict things such as what network provider a phone can use or where an iPad or iPhone can download apps from.
The direct effect of this is that an increasing number of iPad owners will start downloading apps from alternative app stores such as Cydia. And an increasing number of app developers will now openly use and promote such alternative app stores.
The indirect effect is that this will result in alternative app providers becoming mainstream options rather than undercover, back-room affairs.
At the least, this gives publishers such as Time some options besides Apple iTunes for digital distribution. I suppose it is possible that Cydia or some other alternative app environment could eventually usurp Apple’s official App Store as the provider of choice for iPad enhancements. But even if they don’t, the competition could prompt Apple to adopt a more flexible standard for the apps it agrees to handle through its channel. At the least, though, it should prompt users to think more broadly about apps for the iPad rather than defaulting single-mindedly to the Apple App Store.
