[Cody Overcash]

Well it is officially open. Just to test it out I decided to pick up the first paid Cydia App: Cyntact. The first thing you will notice after installing the new Cydia is Cyntact up there in changes. You'll also notice that the title and description is in the color blue instead of black like normal applications. This blue color indicated that it is a Cydia Store Application. That is the only difference you will see in the new Cydia as nothing else menu-wise has changed.

On to the buying. This process took me ages here the first time around. First I had to sign in with my google account, go through some steps to link the account, etc. Next was signing in with my amazon.com account and going through all the various steps (including remembering my password ) to buy the app. Finally I had purchased the app and was able to install it.

All said in done the entire process took me about 10 mins including one password lookup in the keychain on my computer. I noticed while authorizing Cydia on my google account there was a button to remember Cydia for later use with my google account so I hopefully wont have to go through all those hoops again. I also noticed a similar option when finally paying with amazon.com to keep my information on file. Something to note is the fact that amazon.com is the only current payment option so users without a US address can not purchase from the Cydia Store right now. If you can get an amazon account you can purchase from the Cydia Store. When questioned about paypal Saurik said, "I am going to work on PayPal support for next week. (I did Amazon first as PayPal has a worse experience and is more expensive)."

I can not say for sure whether or not the process is as streamlined as it should be or not. The first purchase takes a long time. Is all my information saved for future purchases? I guess I'll have to wait until I buy a second app from the Cydia Store. Assuming it doesn't require me to login a couple times etc then the Cydia Store looks like it could be a big win in convenience for the end user when purchasing jailbreak apps.

The changes I'm really looking forward to in Cydia is the Comments and rating systems that Saurik has not yet implemented "Comments and ratings will be out soon: I just want to think through scalability one more time (I don't want it to kill payments ;P)." For now business as usual on the enduser side of things. Cydia is Cydia. The store probably won't effect those who aren't interested in it.

Want to see the whole step-by-step process of purchasing in Cydia? Slideshow below.

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edit: some more info

• Saurik is looking into doing direct credit card processing in the future.
• The purchase is tied to your Cydia account. If you get a new iPhone your purchase will still be valid.
• Saurik does not plan on charging for applications like Cyntact in the future.
• Cyntact does not have any DRM. Saurik is working with current commercial applications to handle whatever DRM they may have.
• If you've had a failed payment (such as, a credit card decline) you will need to be patient since Saurik has not coded in support for that yet.

btw thx Dan-k aka ckybam69 for tipping us that the Cydia Store went live

[ckybam69]

this is going to be a huge thing for the jailbreaking community, hopefully as the cydia store evolves payment will be much easier.

[loafomatic]

I dont know. Hes already charging for something that should be a loading option. I'll wait and see what sort of apps this thing attracts.

[JStraitiff]

i like it but i think that paypal should be used

[sayam]

Just a question. Does the app have any security. I mean that anyone can pull it off the phone and redistribute it to people who did not buy it. It will be facing piracy just like the appstore if that's possible...

[ckybam69]

Saurik says in the package description of cyntact that he doesnt plan on charging for packages like this in the future.

[Cody Overcash]

Originally Posted by sayam

Just a question. Does the app have any security. I mean that anyone can pull it off the phone and redistribute it to people who did not buy it. It will be facing piracy just like the appstore if that's possible...

there is no DRM currently

[confucious]

Worked fine for me.
We'll have to see how this takes off.

[Poseidon79]

There is no security against redistributing the app and those that want to steal... will steal... like always.

[confucious]

There will always be thieves. Most grow up eventually....

[smirkis]

meh, seems kinda cool. but if i wanted to pay for apps, i wouldn't even jailbreak at all. appstore charges enough and doesn't even force me to mod my iphone. why would one go thru a huge hassle of jailbreaking an iphone, jus to pay for apps anyway. i know cydia has apps that appstore never will, but the point of jailbreaking and homebrew and stuff is the same reason saurik made cydia. pure pleasure of doing it. if u wanna make money, follow apples guidelines and trigger all those little weaklings who enjoy buying apps all day.

ignore me tho, but i think this is a step backwards

[confucious]

We all have different reasons for using Cydia - I've paid for a few apps from Cydia - this just makes it easier.

I paid a lot of money for my phone, a few bucks for apps that i actually want and use is fine by me. Different people put different values on apps though.

[lom51]

here's a thought though.

Will saurik be choosing the apps which can be bought, and which are worth buying, because if not, people are going to get greedy and charge for themes which are not worth the time looking at anyway.

This could be the downfall to the Cydia Store, obviously unless saurik chooses, then theres no problem lol

[confucious]

More likely the other way round - if people try to charge for rubbish no one will buy. If saurik starts saying what can and can't be sold it will be just like the app store!

[Bluemetal]

You don`t need a US-Adress, it works here in Germany with my Account for the German Amazon-Shop !!!! So it should work in any country with Amazon shops.

Another thought: this could be a milestone for professional developers who now can easily sell there apps, maybe a Navigation software thats not allowed on AppsStore. So lets see what time will bring.....