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Chinese Apple pirate Kuaiyong sets sail for rest of WORLD

iTunes rip off to launch English version in blow to developers

Bad news for iOS application developers – Chinese language service Kuaiyong, which allows users to install pirated apps on their iDevices without jailbreaking them, is set to expand overseas with the launch of an English language version.

Kuaiyong arrived earlier this year to ]]fill the void left by equally-dubious service Installous. It claims to offer Chinese fanbois who are “not very familiar with the iTunes system and how to effectively manage it”, a safe and secure alternative.

In effect, this means providing one-click access to thousands of free apps and in so doing depriving hard-working devs and Apple of not insignificant sums of money.

As spotted by TechInAsia, the service will add an English version of its iTunes rip-off store for Windows “soon”, creating all sorts of possibilities for fanbois unfamiliar with chinese script.

In a statement on the site, Kuaiyong had the following:

Kuaiyong offers detailed descriptions of apps, free app download trial, IOS device management and visual and audio file backup system. IOS system backup and recovery features will also be released in the very near future.

The statement goes on to claim rather dubiously that Kuaiyong has managed to reduce the number of jailbroken devices in China from 60 per cent to 30 per cent in the short time it’s been up and running.

Apple representatives in China couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the news, although it can’t be long before Cupertino aims its legal cannons in the direction of Kuaiyong.

Things are already pretty bad in the region, according to a report last year from Shanghai analyst Stenvall Skoeld. It claimed that high piracy rates mean App Store revenues in China account for just three per cent of the global total but 18 per cent of worldwide downloads.

The iPhone-maker has been both victim and perpetrator when it comes to copyright violation in China.

It received a 1.03m yuan (£102,000) fine from a Beijing court last month after being accused of violating local copyright laws by failing to remove apps containing unlicensed content from its App Store. ®

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