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The same way you did before there was an app store - through your website. As for Android, you can sell APKs through your site that people can sideload onto their phones.


If you have any references for what effect that might have on sales, I'd be genuinely curious to see.


Yes! Why didn't we think of this before, we could just... go back to doing what we were doing before that never worked very well!

People already complain about too much competition on the App store. On the web you're competing with virus' and everything else as well. And people have to figure out where you are.

Having your app on the App store is like having it in some giant big box store. Having it on the web is like having your app somewhere on the planet.


I thought the terms of service were changed so that you can't sell directly ...

How does it work? Do you just send ipa files that the user is expected to import into itunes?


Yes, but jailbreak is required.


makes sense, but I thought w1ntermute was distributing using a non-JB channel


There are mechanisms for sideloading to a limited number of devices. Those mechanisms used to be trivially exploitable to authorize an infinite number of devices, but AFAIK, Apple locked it down a lot more and blocked developers that were doing it quite a while ago.


Yes, exactly, either you don't make apps for their platform anymore (in the case of iOS) or you distribute them through your website, just like before the app store existed. Or, you could make a webapp.

Apple has been treating their developers like crap ever since the app store opened, and the only way to change it is to vote with your wallet (or more accurately in this case, your development time). Otherwise, you are part of the problem.




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