In 2008, Apple opened the iPhone to application developers, making their phone/iPod/internet communicator into a platform.
However, Apple attached one giant string: Their own App Store is the only way to mass-distribute an application for the iPhone OS. You cannot sell or give away your application to the public, except through Apple.
There are only two other ways to distribute an iPhone app. One is to use Ad-Hoc Distribution, which Apple provides for beta-testing purposes. The problem with this is that if you try to mass-distribute your application this way, Apple will disable your ability to produce new Ad-Hoc releases of your app.
The other way is to release it for jailbroken iPhone and iPod touch devices. To “jailbreak” means to disable the device's built-in restrictions (including the one where it only runs software approved by Apple). This almost certainly voids the device's warranty, so you can't get support from Apple for it anymore; furthermore, Apple's OS updates usually cause problems on jailbroken devices, making it a hassle to continue receiving Apple's fixes.
For these reasons, most people will not jailbreak, limiting the size of that market.
So, when Apple bans an application from their App Store (especially an application that the developer was selling), they effectively kill the application. Dead. It has no practical future on the iPhone OS.
This page lists every application that Apple has killed, along with the reason that they stated for doing so, and what has happened to the app since.
This list is only for apps whose removal Apple was involved in. Another developer can threaten you on any platform, but on the iPhone platform, one party (Apple) controls the platform and can remove you for any reason. If that party isn't involved, that removal doesn't belong on this list.
For applications (specifically, games) whose developers pulled them under direct legal threat from another software developer, see Matt Burris' list of removed iPhone games. I'm not aware of a similar list for non-games.
Applications that Apple has killed
| Name: | BoxOffice |
|---|---|
| Price: | Free |
| Developer: | Cyrus Najmabadi/Metasyntactic |
| Released on: | 2008-07-06 |
| Killed on: | Early August, 2008 |
| Apple's reason: | Possible trademark conflict |
| App Store status: | Reinstated 10 days later; currently available as Now Playing |
| Hat tip: | mikey-san for the Ars link |
The app was available briefly for jailbreak users, but that seems to have ended since Apple restored it to the App Store.
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