Behind the scenes, each service uses the same simple backdoor: Registered iOS developers can activate up to 100 unique device IDs (or UDIDs) for their account, an essential tool for testing apps on multiple devices. Once registered with Apple, the activated device is also able to run pre-release versions of iOS, though developers are forbidden from sharing pre-release software outside their own team.This same senario has been going on for years now with no particular intervention from Apple. As wired notes, it seems that Apple just didn't seem to care, despite their wide availability.
Ignoring these warnings, activation services charge a small fee to add a customer’s device to their developer accounts. When they hit the 100-device limit, they just register a new account with Apple.
MacStories has noted that many of the services listed in the original Wired article are no longer available. Now, it looks like Apple has started to take action against sites that sell access to iOS developer betas.
While most of our emails bounced, we heard back from one of the site owners (who asked to remain anonymous), who confirmed his hosting provider took down the site after a complaint for copyright infringement by Apple. Similarly, the CEO of Fused tweeted in a reply to Andy Baio that Apple had been “fairly heavy-handed” with DMCA requests to UDID-selling sites hosted on their network.MacStories exchanged emails with the owner of one of the services which made $75,000 since the release of iOS 6 Beta back in June.
0 comments:
Post a Comment