Well, I’m not sure if this is deemed illegal or not, but a certain website has recently come to my attention, which offers users the ability to publicly mass-download iPhone OS 4.0 (beta 3) in exchange for a donation via @Paypal.
Apple recently released the latest revision of their iPhone OS operating system to paying members of it’s Apple Developer Connection. In order to download and install the beta, you need both an Apple Developer Account which will run you $99 per year, and have your iPhone or iPod touch UDID (unique device identifier) registered with the company to pass the verification process iTunes normally initiates during install, to confirm whether or not you have a developer account.
Claiming to be developers looking for beta testers, a group of people have setup iphone4beta.net, a site which blatantly offers to publicly ‘sell’ users of the service Apple’s recently released OS 4.0 (Beta 3) software (which we might add is still under strict NDA), in exchange for a $10 donation to the company via Paypal. Surely if they are genuine developers looking for beta testers, they wouldn’t have to charge for the distribution of beta software? .. and what happened to the software NDA?
From the site:
It’s simple! In order to install iPhone OS 4.0 Beta on your iPhone/iPod Touch and test out the new features, you need to register your unique device id (UDID) via our Apple developer subscription. A symbolic fee of $10 is required for activation to avoid abuse. Once we confirmed that your device has been added successfully, you will be able to install iPhone 4.0 Beta firmware without any restrictions!
Scam? We’re not sure yet. What we are sure of however is just like the people who were exploiting iTunes reviews a few weeks back, when Apple finds out what they’re doing, I highly doubt they’re going to run along with the idea.
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