Apple Accused of Stealing iOS 5 New Wi Fi Sync from Store App Submission

by hearit

Ever wonder if submitting an idea could end up with you being ripped off, stolen? An Apple Store app submission from a UK guy seems to now appear in new iOS 5, seeming to confirm the possibility.

The unveiling of new Apple products isn't so unusual, but the tech company being accused of thievery is a bit more out of the norm. This time, Apple is accused of stealing an app submission.

Apple's highly-anticipated, new mobile operating system -- iOS 5 -- has just been released at the Worldwide Developer's Conference. Some claim that one of the OS's key new features, Wi-Fi Sync, which now allows device users to synchronize contents of music libraries without ever having to plug a device into a computer, is a concept that doesn't belong to Apple. The technology giant's accused of stealing an app that seems largely based on a guy's design.

Apple didn't see the concept on a street corner: it was basically handed over to the company. Greg Hughes is a college student in the U.K. He's a guy who innocently submitted an app called Wi-Fi Sync to the Apple Store, all the way back in May 2010.

Hughes' app he'd developed was designed to let users access iTunes libraries wirelessly -- without ever requiring docking of a portable device to a computer.

Interestingly, Hughes was rejected from the Apple store -- but not the way most applicants hear about their apps being denied, and not through a standard form email. Hughes instead got an Apple rep who called the college student personally, to let him know his app submission supposedly did not meet certain security standards. His app he'd created and submitted, Hughes was told, would not be allowed into the Apple Store.

But interestingly, the Apple rep he talked to by phone also reportedly asked Hughes to send a resume the company's way.

The college student wanted to sell his app and did get it rolling, using a different method instead. The UK student chose the Cydia store -- a website which peddles apps for jailbroken iPhones, with apps for sale at about $9.99 apiece. Since the time Hughes made his Wi-Fi Sync app available online it's now sold over 50,000 copies -- in only about a year.

Apple's own Wi-Fi Sync feature that serves as part of the forthcoming iOS 5 mobile system performs the same function as Hughes' previously-rejected app from the Apple Store. But similarities don't stop there: Apple's version also seems to bear a strikingly similar logo.

Hughes chatted with The Register about his dismay: “Obviously I was fairly shocked. I'd been selling my app with that name and icon for at least a year. Apple knew that, as I'd submitted it to them, so it was surprising to see that.”

It's less of a game of "he says, he says" than some serious proof that accompanies this scenario. Hughes' app was actually submitted for review -- including to MacRumors.com, which did a feature and profiled the college student's app way back in April 2010. So its existence is kind of on file. Perhaps Apple was unaware of that fact. Hughes' icon is on the left, Apple's on the right.