15-year old kid that tricked Apple

[Nermal]

Actually, unless you call paying AT&T the tethering fee a hack, so do the US phones

Touché. Although AT&T isn't the only "bad" phone company in the world; I was recently in England and found that Vodafone doesn't support tethering either (on a normal phone, not an iPhone).

Edit: I withdraw the Vodafone comment; there actually appears to be a bug in my phone's APN selection feature.

 

[mrblack927]

Mom, is that you?

Are you kidding me? The kid's a 15 year old with giant stones, putting himself out there to make a point. Kid's a minor hero, as far as I'm concerned.

That's a fairly immature thing to say. He's your hero because he broke the rules and made it harder for everyone who follows them to get their apps approved? I'm a developer, and whenever I make software (for iPhone or otherwise) I try to document it as well as possible and stay within the bounds of whatever developer agreement/contract I'm working under so that deployment goes as smoothly as possible for all parties involved. That, incidentally, is why I get re-hired by clients so often.

All this kid did is wrap an a cheap flashlight disguise around an open source software package and intentionally violate the developer agreement. Now Apple will crack down on app submissions even more and at the very least lengthen the approval process for new submissions. Essentially making it harder for all the good, honest, hard-working developers out there to launch their apps.

So no, I'm not your "mother" and I don't see this kid as a hero, because what he did was the same thing myself or any other developer could do with 30 minutes of work... but we don't because we're not *******s looking to break the system for 0 profit. I don't know what "point" you think he made... it just seems like he's immature and didn't think his whole plan through to me. If you think this is the type of thing that get's you far in life, then you're in for a shock when you get a real career. People in industry have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and you'll ruin your reputation forever. Why do you think this hasn't happened before (since netshare)? It's because most developers in the program are older than 15 (thank god) and have been around long enough to know better.

<sorry, end rant>

 

[aelalfy]

Hi,

Can anyone explain to me why you guys want tethering so badly? Please keep in mind that I live in Canada and only hear about AT&T customers wanting tethering. From what I understand, AT&T customers have to pay a tethering fee to be able to use their iphone to connect other devices.

Well as much as I hate Rogers, they offer this function for free here in Canada, which is pretty good. The only problem is, that I'm not interested in tethering my computer (via bluetooth) to my iphone. I want to tether my Ipad to my Iphone. As I understand Apple has restricted either device from detecting one another via bluetooth and therefore thats not an option for me. Leaving me with no choise but to jailbreak and install mywi.

So basically my question is, are you guys looking for ways to avoid fees and tether to laptops and other devices via bluetooth. Or are you guys looking to connect your iphone to your ipad?

Thanks
AE

 

[ssajous]

Maybe he did not make any money

He had to have sold a ton of copies once the word got out and before it got pulled.


I wonder if they call what he did a violation of his agreement and force him to forfeit any profits.

How quickly does apple pay your for purchases that have to go through their system? It is conceivable that they just refunded people and did not give him jack. Depends on how hurt the turtle-necked Fürer's feelings were.

 

[ulbador]

How quickly does apple pay your for purchases that have to go through their system? It is conceivable that they just refunded people and did not give him jack. Depends on how hurt the turtle-necked Fürer's feelings were.

It takes at least until the next month. I would have thought if they went the whole refund route that they would have pulled the kill-switch on the app. Credit card fees for both charging and refunding can be expensive so I wouldn't be surprised if they just let it ride.

 

[sneezymarble]

So no, I'm not your "mother" and I don't see this kid as a hero, because what he did was the same thing myself or any other developer could do with 30 minutes of work... but we don't because we're not *******s looking to break the system for 0 profit. I don't know what "point" you think he made... it just seems like he's immature and didn't think his whole plan through to me. If you think this is the type of thing that get's you far in life, then you're in for a shock when you get a real career. People in industry have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and you'll ruin your reputation forever. Why do you think this hasn't happened before (since netshare)? It's because most developers in the program are older than 15 (thank god) and have been around long enough to know better.

Maybe he won't get far in life, I don't know, but I do recall a fella who, with his scruffy looking friend, built little devices called 'blue boxes' which were used to make free – illegal – phone calls on ATT's network. He then sold the devices for a huge profit and started a company with the money. I'm told he's made it pretty far in life.

 

[BigHonkingDeal]

I smell a Sainthood nomination!

I'm a developer, and whenever I make software (for iPhone or otherwise) I try to document it as well as possible and stay within the bounds of whatever developer agreement/contract I'm working under so that deployment goes as smoothly as possible for all parties involved. That, incidentally, is why I get re-hired by clients so often.
<sorry, end rant>

 

[spamdumpster]

If you think this is the type of thing that get's you far in life, then you're in for a shock when you get a real career. People in industry have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and you'll ruin your reputation forever. Why do you think this hasn't happened before (since netshare)? It's because most developers in the program are older than 15 (thank god) and have been around long enough to know better.

I appreciate your concern, as a dev, that this has made it harder for apps to get approved. I guess my "mother" comment was out of line - and I apologize. Look at this kids actions more globally though -- this was an act against censorship, closed platforms, and whatever the opposite of net neutrality is. Lots of people bitch about these issues, but this kid actually did something about it.

In any event, I doubt I'll be in "shock" when I "get a real career." First, I'm a partner at one of the largest law firms in the world, so I think I already qualify as having a real career.* Second, I encourage this type of behavior in our lawyers and staff, as long as the actor understands and is willing to bear the consequences of his behavior. Think of this like civil disobedience -- to be clear, the degree, scope, and importance of this act are miniscule compared to other instances of civil disobedience (and I'm not comparing them in terms of degree, scope, or importance) -- but the nature of the act is the same: the breaking of perceived unjust rules in order to make a point and attract publicity to your cause.

* For the record, I'm not bragging, or claiming that my career is a good one (it's actually just ok); just that it's a real career.