Apple to allow app sharing

Sharing an app on a fictional Apple device - pic from www.patentlyapple.com

A new Apple patent, which in theory will allow iPad, iPhone, and Mac users to share apps, has been unearthed.

The new patent, discovered by web site Patently Apple, will allow iPhone, iPad and possible Mac app users on the new Mac app store to share apps with their friends.

According to the Patently Apple web site, the patent specifies that app publishers would be able to define how their apps are shared – in full (good for free apps), as time or functionality-limited demos, or simply as links to the App Store.

It also more importantly that users can allow their friends to have a free trial of an app that looks useful and then those users if they like it , can download their own version and pass the app on to others, which is a viral marketers dream tool.

At present, there’s no word on when this feature will go live. No doubt there are already hundreds of Google ants in the Googleplex working on an Android version and it’ll be available in Android 2.4

What do you think? Good idea, great idea, or very bad idea?

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