Apple Cracking Down on Illegal iOS 6 Developer Beta Sites
Trust me, I know how hard it is to wait for a new version of iOS. Fortunately for me (and plenty of others), I am a registered developer and part of my USD $99 annual fee extends the privilege of installing and beta testing Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating system.
Those without a developer account just have to wait… unless they can find their way around that requirement. Of course, Apple isn’t thrilled by that idea and has ventured to crack down on the methods of circumventing their rules.
In theory, tegistered developers can provision up to 100 iOS devices to be used for testing their software. With most developers only wanting (or needing) a few of those, selling off the extras had become quite a lucrative business; many developers (or businesses masquerading as developers) offering their extras for around USD $10.00.
When Andy Baio wrote a story for Wired earlier last month, things started to change for those pseudo-developers. Where once they turned a blind eye, Apple now seems to be cracking down on the practice of selling off these extra UUID registrations; nearly all of the companies profiled in Baio’s article are already gone (one of which was able to boast making $75,000 since the initial announcement of the iOS 6 beta).
At first glance it may seen unreasonable for Apple to be concerned over these so called developers selling off the resources they aren’t using, but it really isn’t a wise thing to do. Developers sign on for the risks associated with running beta versions of operating systems. They are cautioned not to use the software on their daily-use devices and warned that there may be adverse side-effects for features that haven’t been fully bug tested. Apple is protecting their best interests (avoiding bad press) when inexperienced users could end up with paper weights instead of iPhones.
