back to article Chinese Apple pirate Kuaiyong sets sail for rest of WORLD

Bad news for iOS application developers – Chinese language service Kuaiyong, which allows users to install pirated apps on their iDevices without jailbreaking them, is set to expand overseas with the launch of an English language version. Kuaiyong arrived earlier this year to ]]fill the void left by equally-dubious service …

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  1. cyke1

    you should have ever right to put app's on your device from somewhere other then apple. All the apple app store is, just a way for them to get money from every possible spot reguardless. Apple has also had a very questionable policy of removing competing app's from their store in favor of their own made app's. That is nothing more IMO as apple trying to keep a monopoly on some things and blocking any competition.

    1. Shagbag

      This story highlights the fundamental impediment to a lot of peole buying Apple devices: iTunes.

      I had my Dad over from Australia recently and he was enthusastically praising his iPad. Not having one, I had no idea what he was talking about. When I tried to copy a (legitimately purchased) movie across to his iPad I was astounded to find out I couldn't do it without going through a convoluted process of copying to his PC (the one he has synced his iPad with previously), him adding it to his iTunes library and then him syncing his library with his iPad. Given that his PC was thousands of miles away this made it practically impossible.

      I showed him how I did it on my Android tablet: drag-and-drop. He didn't like that.

      The whole story brought home to me just how fallacious the whole 'Apple's more intuitive' thing is - it's nothing more than a Jedi mind trick. My sister received a MacBook Pro from her husband for Crimbo and proceeded to get very frustrated with OSX because she'd grown up on Windows. She constantly lamented that OSX did not seem any 'more intuitive' than than any other foreign device she'd tried.

      Some people love their Apple devices, and that's great for them, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Shagbag,

        I think in terms of UI, then iOS is a bit easier to master than Android. Android gives you a lot more options and ways to set it up, as well as being a lot more likely to dump you into long menus. iOS is a lot less configurable. That's the price you pay for flexibility.

        However, as you say, getting content onto an iDevice can be a total pain in the arse. Unless, of course, you buy it all from Apple, in which case it's go to iTunes (which already has your credit card of course), press button, receive bacon. I'm sure there's no connection at all between the difficulty of getting your own media on there, and the fact that Apple make money from selling it to you...

        iTunes is perfectly fine for basic synching of music and podcasts. It's crap at synching photos though, as iTunes doesn't seem to be able to watch the Pictures folder and fetch more when it's added to. You have to manually tell it where the new piccies are. Something I have to teach my Mum to do this week - wish me luck! I suspect iTunes on Mac can manage that. Getting books on there is an equally manual, and obscure, process - unless you use iBooks, the Kindle app, or the like.

        Although, I haven't played with iCloud. It's possible that you could just drag and drop from computer to iCloud and have it synch with the iPad?

        1. Titus Aduxass
          Thumb Down

          @spartacus

          "iOS is a lot less configurable. That's the price you pay for flexibility."

          Eh?

          Wrong.

          Not configurable = inflexible.

          1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
            Facepalm

            Re: @spartacus

            Titus Aduxass,

            Sorry, meant that the other way round. Android has more complex menus and settings. Which is the price you pay for the flexibility it gives you. I obviously wasn't clear enough.

        2. Giggitygoebbels
          Trollface

          Lol i took a week to learn windows 8 and 3 freaking months to learn iOS(and still think it is user hostile)!you sure that is easier bro?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "My sister received a MacBook Pro from her husband for Crimbo and proceeded to get very frustrated with OSX because she'd grown up on Windows. She constantly lamented that OSX did not seem any 'more intuitive' than than any other foreign device she'd tried.

        Some people love their Apple devices, and that's great for them, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole."

        A life-long windows user tries a different OS and complains that it works differently than they're used to...... best argument against OSX I've ever heard. Keep up the good work.

        1. Ragarath

          @AC 10:43

          A life-long windows user tries a different OS and complains that it works differently than they're used to...... best argument against OSX I've ever heard. Keep up the good work.

          Nice to see your using the same argument that all the Linux / OS X zealots have been saying is not a hurdle when moving OS's. But remember, moving to Linux is free!

          If it is intuitive, even if you have been using an alternative, it should be easy to pick up.

          To be fair, some people are also finding this a problem moving to Win 8 from Windows as it changes the way things work and is not intuitive. You have to learn it. Win 8 is not as big a curve as moving OS's is though because most of it is the same

          Back on topic, what about the Malware checks? Is this done by this Chinese alternative to the AppStore or can anyone develop anything?

    2. LarsG
      Meh

      Do you

      Do you really want to put a pirated ap on your iphone with a program made in China?

      Look what happened with Android, the malware hell they face could be yours if you do.

    3. n4blue
      Stop

      @cyke1: rights and responsibilities

      "you should have ever right to put app's on your device from somewhere other then apple"

      That's not the same thing as saying that Apple has a responsibility to make it easy to install apps from other sources. If you don't like the way Apple do things then don't buy their products. There are plenty of good alternatives. Apple doesn't have a monopoly. Just because you don't like their business model doesn't make it 'wrong' in any moral or legal sense.

      On top of that, as I understand it, this store is distributing pirated apps. That IS wrong and Apple have every right to send in the lawyers.

      (Geez I can't believe I just defended Apple - must be going soft)

      1. Fihart

        Re: @cyke1: rights and responsibilities

        "If you don't like the way Apple do things then don't buy their products."

        Been there, done that.

        Have friend who cannot understand iTunes so dragooned me into managing her iPod for her.

        Then found an older iPod in the trash and, even after gaining more familiarity with iTunes, decided to stop using iPod as iTunes was so counterintuitive compared with drag and drop to my LG and Sony MP3 players.

  2. PJI
    Thumb Down

    And the developer?

    Do you work for nothing? So who pays the developer, provides the shop advertising and management to get his/her goods onto the market and collects his fee?

    I gather that this "monopoly" must be why IOS developers are said to make more money and provide more secure apps than the alternatives, as well as have a better, more consistent development platform and target.

    As a matter of interest, I wonder how much a decent quality, for example, Android app costs the developer to produce, advertise, sell, maintain. distribute updates and collect income, in comparison with such for IOS. From a working (as opposed to hobby) developer viewpoint, what platform for him is most profitable? I am not interested in rants about Apple's fees, insistence on meeting its rules etc., just on actual figures and facts for the serious, high quality developer/software engineer.

  3. Shagbag

    "it can’t be long before Cupertino aims its legal cannons in the direction of Kuaiyong"

    Good luck with that.

  4. JaitcH
    WTF?

    Guess there's a ...

    crack in Jobs walled garden.

  5. ukgnome
    Facepalm

    Madness

    Why would you want to install an app from a non-licensed source? If you pay for an app and it turns out to be a bag of nasty then you have a large company that is culpable.

    Aside from helping developers with a new product there should be no reason to use a pirated app.

    This goes for all app stores, no matter if they are a fruit or a robot or a hole in the wall filled by glass.

    1. Bronek Kozicki
      Coat

      Re: Madness

      Dunno, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy an app directly from the developer without Apple chipping 20% of the price (or whatever is the Apple tax now) ?

      Coat because we all know that the discussion is not about independent developers. Just trying to point out the alternatives to walled garden ...

  6. Jess

    It would be a lot better if they sold apps

    Providing a different route for software authors.

  7. Ben Holmes
    Meh

    The Chinese just don't give a fuck really, do they?

    Intellectual Property and Copyright just seem to be 'something which other people should be concerned about'.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      IP is a bag of shite

      As I see it, if I wasn't going to buy it anyway, why not have it for free ...

      IP fanbois make the mistake of thinking that every Pirated copy is money lost to the developer, which it isn't!

      Furthermore you also make the mistake that IP helps technology move along, when in fact it does the exact opposite.

  8. stefn
    FAIL

    The developers themselves speak...

    Not. I notice the reporter didn't contact any actual, real live developers. Could not get a quote that worked for you? Didn't bother? Do know much about journalism? Against Register policy?

  9. Robert Helpmann??
    Childcatcher

    Bootstrap Operation

    How did Kuaiyong get onto iOS devices if Apple controls them unless set free (sounds better than a jailbreak, doesn't it)? I thought the whole purpose of the (prison) walled garden approach was to prevent the possibility of something of this nature. I cannot imaging that Apple is not aware of Kuaiyong's "services."

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is why they make prisons

    Hopefully this chap is on the inside looking out, soon.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wankers - all i have to say

  12. jubtastic1
    FAIL

    Re: average age of register commentards

    This comment has been deleted for breaking the Blogfelch terms and conditions

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This comment has been deleted as Tim Cook become emotional after seeing this.

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