An iPhone hacker discovered last week that the iPhone periodically “calls home” and checks a specific URL containing a software blacklist. Any software listed at the URL will supposedly not be allowed to run on the local device.
This has interesting connotations for the future of software development for the iPhone, especially given some of the applications that have been yanked in the last week from Apple’s online store. One app, “iAmRich,” was basically a joke that gave the user a jewel-like vanity graphic on the main screen for the low, low cost of $1000 (eight people bought it, with reportedly only two sore buyers). Two other apps yanked by Apple had actual usefulness and merit– one displayed movie times and information, and another let you tether a computer through the iPhone for Internet access. It’ll be interesting to see how far Apple will be willing to go in supporting independent developers that can/should/will come up with free software that competes directly with paid offerings from AT&T and other American cell carriers.