The App Store is about to get some competition as the only way of buying apps and games for your iPhone/iPod Touch. Companies and user groups are looking at ways to offer alternative outlets that have less restrictions on the kind of wares that can be offered by developers.

App Store fans love the consistency and nods towards quality control that Apple has brought to mobile app purchasing, but detractors say that Apple’s restrictive - or downright obtuse - policies mean that perfectly good apps are rejected and the approvals process discourages small developers from taking risks.

That may be about to change as a number of rival App Store plans are set in motion. The main contender is from Cydia - the application installer of choice for many who choose to Jailbreak their iPhones. Cydia plans to have a much more liberal submissions policy that the official App Store and founder Jay Freeman says that he will charge developers no more than Apple for the right to distribute via the new store.

Cydia’s solution requires you to Jailbreak your phone - a somewhat tricky (and possibly illegal, depending on whether you listen to Apple) step that might put off many casual users. A new startup called Rock Your Phone plans to make this even easier and will do the deed for you in exchange for a small fee.

Other rival App Stores are said to be gearing up to provide niche apps and services such as Adult content or Bluetooth/modem apps. About the only certainty is that Apple are unlikely to take this lying down - the App Store is a big earner for Apple and it surely doesn’t want unclean Apps cluttering up its your iPhone…

TBC | £tbc | via C-Net

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