iFlowReader out of business
Out of context: Reply #64
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- Boz0
ESKEMA.. let's first analyze the thing.. you are insinuating this is the same as Apple.. it's not.
First of all.. if you have an iPhone 4 you are being hunted down and prevented from using tethering at all (even with Cydia apps after you hacked your iPhone) if you don't pay. So you have to pay or you don't get it.. and actually tethering is fairly new on IOS anyways, it was first introduced on Android devices.
Now let's look at the issue with Android Marketplace and tethering apps prevention.
Android Marketplace is not open. It's a Google service that's moderated by google.. and is default store for Android. This doesn't mean it's the only choice of apps but it's the largest.. In addition to this, you can download any app from a website.. All you have to do is enable on the phone a setting that's called "Allow Unknown Sources" for apps. No hacking, nothing.
Google kicked/is kicking tethering apps from the store because of the agreement with phone carriers. Unlike iOS or Apple's approach, the guys who "sell" or live off of these apps can still sell them from their websites and alternate app stores. They just can't sell it through Android Marketplace. I don't see a problem there at all..
This is hugely different from Apple's approach where your only response is "well you can sell it on other platforms" but only after you have built everything to the proprietary Apple system. Selling it to iPhone users is impossible from anywhere else.
Btw, on Nexus One, I still tether to any device without any app for free.. using my existing unlimited data plan from AT&T.. nobody says anything and there isn't a problem there..
Google is not hunting you down and preventing you from using tethering on your phone.. they are just saying, since they have agreements with these companies, they have to prevent offering tethering that encourages free tethering on locked phones.
Again, I have to reiterate this. Unlike Apple, this won't kill or hurt anyone. If you want those apps you can still download them from their owners through their sites. You just won't be able to buy them from Android Marketplace. A fundamentally different approach compared to Apple.