[oo3]

I thought this was a good read, considering how much we love Cydia.

The story behind Cydia on the iPhone

The story behind Cydia on the iPhone

By Erica Sadun | Published: October 08, 2008 - 12:59PM CT

When Jay "Saurik" Freeman first started building Cydia, his collaborative open-source distribution system for iPhone, he decided to name it after a pest. Cydia pomonella is the scientific name for the coddling moth, which as Freeman writes "is what we often think of the as the stereotypical apple worm." He adds, "I felt the name was fitting." It's certainly easier to say than Rhagoletis, after Rhagoletis pomonella, the apple maggot.

Image courtesy of Western Australia
Department of Agriculture

Cydia has proven to be quite the worm. It's now installed as a standard part of the iPhone dev team jailbreak, allowing users to customize their systems with software not available through official App Store channels; in fact Cydia is the jailbreak equivalent of the App Store.

With Cydia, you can download, install, and update software from independent developers. As with App Store, Cydia notifies you when new updates are available and offers lists of featured and recently added items. Standout packages include the Cycorder video recorder, Winterboard, which allows you to customize your iPhone with artistic themes, and a bevy of application launchers. None of these programs are allowed in App Store as they all violate Apple's strict usage rules.

Cydia has upwards of 350,000 users. Freeman told Ars that the mechanism to track unique iPhone identifier count changed couple of weeks ago, so this number is reading artificially low as many users may not yet have upgraded their software.

The Wikipedia writeup on C. pomonella is particularly ironic when considered in light of the iPhone: "[it] has proved to be a problematic pest on several fruit trees, including apples and pears. The caterpillars burrow into the fruit, rendering it un-sellable. Traditional insecticides are of limited use, as some strains have acquired resistance to several insecticides."

Freeman regularly gets e-mails from people asking how to say the name. He jokes that they write "'Please help me win this bet I have with my friend: is Cydia pronounced see-dee-uh or sigh-dee-uh.' It's always two incorrect choices." For the record, the correct pronunciation is sih-DEE-uh. Or it is at least for the moment. "I don't actually speak or study Latin, but I am a linguistics student." He adds that he's open to corrections from Latin experts.

Viva Cydia, at least in its iPhone format.

[one1]

I like Cydia, but it's no app store equivalent (referencing the article). 350k users and a handful of programs V/S the largest media store in the world with (projected) billions of users (by end of next year, currently "millions")..... not quite a contest.

Cydia is more like the lemonade stand at the corner of 1 Apple Loop, Cuppertino California. It's useful, well liked, and growing daily. For Jailbreakers, installer made the iPhone what it is. Installer had ten times the apps for 1X than Cydia currently houses today for 2X.

Cydia is simply the latest and greatest. It did not build the jailbreak community like installer did. It's the leading source for 2X, and that makes it the current favorite. It's well supported, and that makes it the best choice.

Unless installer 4 comes back with a vengeance, Cydia is set to remain the best option for the jailbreak community for 2X FW...........but it's no app store. Installer 1x was a monster compared to Cydia.

I think Cydia is going to remain in the top spot for a long time to come, especially if Saurik continues with his plans to implement a more broad paid media outlet into it. THEN it will be the well known lemonade stand at the corner of 1 Apple Loop.

[461am]

billions of users? Exaggeration at it's best.

[one1]

Originally Posted by 461am

billions of users? Exaggeration at it's best.

You've got your head in Houston, TX. iTunes is worldwide and Apple is launching in 40 more countries as we type. Billions.... yes. That's the direction Apple has taken in global domination of media. Millions was last year, Billions is the work of 2009 expansion..... if you believe the projections. (currently millions)

[redcard]

But billions? 1% of a billion, yeah.

[461am]

Originally Posted by one1

You've got your head in Houston, TX. iTunes is worldwide and Apple is launching in 40 more countries as we type. Billions.... yes. That's the direction Apple has taken in global domination of media. Millions was last year, Billions is the work of 2009 expansion..... if you believe the projections. (currently millions)

Ah, but I only just moved here.
Let's aim for billions of 'computer users' first, shall we?

[one1]

Don't shoot the messenger, that's apple's projections.

....... did you buy spurs yet?

[Poseidon79]

Stop hating on TX. We don't all ride horses to work everyday and wear cowboy hats. LOL

[one1]

You should.....

[461am]

Originally Posted by Poseidon79

Stop hating on TX. We don't all ride horses to work everyday and wear cowboy hats. LOL

uhh.. YEAH! We use pickup trucks now.

[one1]

If I lived in TX I'd totally rock a belt buckle large enough to hide a small child under.

[sziklassy]

Originally Posted by one1

You've got your head in Houston, TX. iTunes is worldwide and Apple is launching in 40 more countries as we type. Billions.... yes. That's the direction Apple has taken in global domination of media. Millions was last year, Billions is the work of 2009 expansion..... if you believe the projections. (currently millions)

For there to be BILLIONS of users that would imply there are a billion + iphones/itouches out there. I think that is just a little (ok so a WHOLE LOT) off. Also, I don't think that to be an equivalent you need to have the same numbers. For example, as an OS, Apple's OSX is the equivalent of MS Windows. Windows WAYYYYYYYY outsells OSX and has since, well alsmot forever, I would hardly make the argument that they are not equivalents (one being Apple's baby and the other being Microsoft's). I think the artivle more spoke on the fact they they look the same, allow you to install apps in the same manner, have auto updates, etc.

[one1]

Originally Posted by sziklassy

For there to be BILLIONS of users that would imply there are a billion + iphones/itouches out there.

No it wouldn't..... it would imply that there are a billion iTunes users out there who can view the app store, which are also all the windows users, mac users, combined in the entire world that use itunes. Whether they use it or not, they have an account and use iTunes and view the app store.

You can only view Cydia on the iphone.

[Muggz5]

Stop hating on TX. We don't all ride horses to work everyday and wear cowboy hats. LOL

I dunno about you but I ride 350 horses to work every day




To above said, "Texas is all cowboys" Im a yankee (rather a BoSox), we fit right in Dallas.

[Tokyo]

I've learned to love Cydia, before 2.x I used installer because I heard cydia had so many bugs so I never bothered to try it.

But now I've learned to love it a lot, and funny how installer and Cydia sort of switched places.