Ask HN: iPad can run my existing apps, so what about app distribution rights?
If Apple is letting people run apps they bought for their iPhone/iPod touch on their iPad does that mean they could release other platforms which users would automatically get their apps for without giving the developers any more money?
For example, could they release an "app emulator" for Mac which let you play your games on the desktop, etc. Most licenses either explicitly license to a person, or a device. Does this mean all apps are licensed to people?
Any thoughts/ideas about how the app store licensing actually works?
The deal has always been the iTunes store APP runs on all devices synced to the iTunes account. So a single user can already be running it on a flotilla of iPhones and iPod Touches.
This is a similar issue to Journalists writing stuff they retained copyright on and then saw re-used for other media.
Personally, if I were an iPhone developer (which I'm not) I wouldn't have much a problem with it, and I'd do my best to release an iPad version with some extra bells and whistles that only works on the iPad, then give users that buy both a discount.
Everybody wins like that.
Why would this be a problem? If your app costs a certain amount, Apple gives you your 70 percent cut when anybody buys it, regardless of what device it runs on.
So the fact that iPhone apps will now run on the iPad as well seems like a good thing for developers.