Ask HN: iPad can run my existing apps, so what about app distribution rights? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: iPad can run my existing apps, so what about app distribution rights?

3 pointssh1mmer5 comments

If Apple is letting people run apps they bought for their iPhone/iPod touch on their iPad does that mean they could release other platforms which users would automatically get their apps for without giving the developers any more money?

For example, could they release an "app emulator" for Mac which let you play your games on the desktop, etc. Most licenses either explicitly license to a person, or a device. Does this mean all apps are licensed to people?

Any thoughts/ideas about how the app store licensing actually works?

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The deal has always been the iTunes store APP runs on all devices synced to the iTunes account. So a single user can already be running it on a flotilla of iPhones and iPod Touches.

This is a similar issue to Journalists writing stuff they retained copyright on and then saw re-used for other media.

Personally, if I were an iPhone developer (which I'm not) I wouldn't have much a problem with it, and I'd do my best to release an iPad version with some extra bells and whistles that only works on the iPad, then give users that buy both a discount.

Everybody wins like that.

Why would this be a problem? If your app costs a certain amount, Apple gives you your 70 percent cut when anybody buys it, regardless of what device it runs on.

So the fact that iPhone apps will now run on the iPad as well seems like a good thing for developers.

The issue is: If one customer has an iPhone and an iPad, do they have to buy two copies of an app or can they buy one copy and install it twice? Do app developers have any choice about this?

IIRC in the past Apple retroactively changed the terms on music after it had been sold (usually for the better, so customers didn't complain).

Based on my experience with the iPhone and Apple, both as a developer and a customer, I'd bet a lot of money that a person who has bought an app for their iPhone will also be able to run it on their iPad without paying for it again.

Right now, I'm paying for two iPhones on one AT&T account, one for me, one for a friend. If I buy an app from the app store, it will run on both phones without me having to pay for it twice.

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