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Comment by donohoe | Hacker News Reader

If true, I guarantee that Apple will use their “kill switch” to remove this app from any iPhones that have it installed.

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I bought NetShare when it was briefly on the app store and it still works. Or at least it did last time I was at my cabin a few months ago with my 3G.

If they were going to kill an app, I'd assume they would have killed that. And they didn't. Or if they claimed to have killed it then they failed.

I bought this app. I'm more than willing to support the the Rebellion. I haven't actually verified that this app works as demonstrated but for a dollar it's worth the risk. I have no intentions of paying another $20 a month to AT&T.

This may sound silly now, but a long time ago I bought myLite - an iphone flashlight app. And when the app starts it has a frustratingly long and dark splashscreen before you get the actual light.

Even as a flash light HandyLight outperforms myLite. When I start it - it's immediate white.

> I bought this app. I'm more than willing to support the the Rebellion. I haven't actually verified that this app works as demonstrated but for a dollar it's worth the risk. I have no intentions of paying another $20 a month to AT&T.

As a current iOS developer, I’ve always wondered what the financial repercussions of getting pulled from the App Store would be. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple refused to pay the kid his post-commission cut from what he was able to sell due to this kind of hidden behavior.

The kid's under 18. You need to be 18 or over to sell apps in the App Store, as per the agreement. They could choose to pull his apps, remove his account and not pay him for that reason alone.

That depends if the parent was involved in approving the agreement. When I skimmed it last year when I first signed up, I remembered there being some kind of “if the developer is under 18, have a representative of age read and agree instead” clause, but it’s been awhile.

Apple isn't going to use the kill switch on this, just like they didn't on the last tethering app. They simply remove the apps from the store much like they've removed other apps from the store that violated a policy (the commodore emulator). The kill switch, i.e. removing something from phones would be for extreme cases where actual harm is being done (virus propagating out of control, etc.). They aren't going to use it without having a _very_ good reason as it will no doubt be highly scrutinized.

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