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Well, folks, Apple’s done it again. The evil company out in Cupertino has put their hounds lawyers to work to find more lawsuits to keep them busy. The latest episode comes at the expense of Themer, the great one-click theme app that allows users to transform their phone from typical home-screen mayhem into beautiful, functional experiences. Find our hands-on here in case you’ve been living under a rock all this time.
According to a Google+ post made by the CEO of the company, Apple reportedly had issues with the theme “Seven,” which apparently infringed on some of Apple’s iOS icons. It’s true — the theme’s purpose was to make your phone look and feel more like iOS7, and that’s why Themer had no problem taking it out of the app once Google suspended it from the Google Play Store.
Unfortunately, getting the app back up hasn’t gone as quickly as they’d hope. A process they initially thought was only going to take a few days could now take a few weeks, with Google not willing to accelerate the process for one of the biggest apps in the Play Store. Themer says they’ve been forced to email random people in hopes to find someone who can at least help shed light on how long the process might take, but they haven’t gotten far without an official developers’ advocate.
Themer toyed around with the idea of releasing the APK while waiting for Google, but ultimately decided against it. They cited the uncertainties of circumventing the Google Play Store in a time where direct and immediate upgrades are critical — the app is still in beta, after all. For what it’s worth, those who already had the app downloaded will still get treated to new themes on a regular basis and life will go on as normal, but those new to the party will have to wait until this situation is taken care of.
The sad part is, the “Seven” theme which did mimic iOS 7 was the most popular theme on the Themer app.
This also demonstrates why stupid things such as icons and colors shouldn’t be allowed to be patented.
icon artwork is not patented, but copyrighted.
edit: I take that back. Stupid design patents.
That’s pretty sad if you think that icons or design schemes, which are created by someones hard work, shouldn’t be protected? Good lord….
You should have to provide a profit-loss quotient to patent something. So, in this case, no, it shouldn’t be patented. I don’t think Apple could prove a single person decided against the iPhone solely on the basis of this app. They aren’t losing anything, so it has no reason to be protected.
Oh please… maybe you should leave the Android world and join the real world where people like to be compensated and recognised for their work rather then having everyone rip it off.
a) You misspelled ‘recognized’
b) Your statement basically sums up Apple’s business.
a) No I didn’t, there’s a world outside of America.
b) Yeah, being compensated for your work… such a terrible business practice. What a crazy notion……
You completely missed the point. Apple is not innocent, in fact many of their ‘innovations’ was flat out taken from others. Notification bar, MMS, Quick toggles, even an interface. And yet you defend Apple and their business practices.
The real sad part is the open community contributed to those technologies for free, for everyone to use, and Apple steals it and patents it so no one else would. If that’s what you support, then you cannot come here thinking you know everything. It’s an insult to those who dedicate time to improve technology without a company trying to ‘troll’ parents.
Yeah, okay…. all of those are concepts and not even remotely in the same level as icons or themes, which are created specifically by a person or team.
The only thing that comes close is MMS, and that would be like saying smartphone makers ripped off Alexander Graham Bell for implementing a phone.
Once you grow up and join the real world, you’ll understand.
It’s OK, I know you’re salty about it and resort to childish responses but if you don’t like the truth then I’m sorry, you got more problems than this comment section needs.
You’re right. Icons and themes are much less important than actual phone capabilities. Icons and themes don’t sell devices, they’re the window dressing and wallpaper to the mansion that is the OS. Nobody bought an Android instead of an iPhone because of Themer, so no one at Apple is losing money over this. There is no hindering of the “artist’s compensation”. To the contrary, it could make iOS more recognizable and usable to those who only have familiarity with Android. That *could* lead to more sales of iOS down the road. Regardless, Apple went the bad guy route. Instead of writing a simple C&D to the company in question, Apple took the patent troll route and cried to Daddy Google to make the bad boy stop.
https://medium.com/apple-daily/f5f8c807d868
In case you’re interested on how designers are compensated.
So you don’t recognise UK English? K.
How is patenting a design equated with work compensation? Look, if I work for Apple, and I do design work for them, they pay me. Score. I GOT COMPENSATED However, if Apple can’t prove financial loss from someone else using said artwork, WHY CLOG UP THE PATENT OFFICE AND THE COURTS? Think of it like this. I build a porch on the front of my house. My house value rises. Cool. The guy across the street sees it, likes it, and does the same thing. His house value rises, but it doesn’t hurt mine. Should I sue him? In the real world, everyone says, “No!” In the business world, though, logic gets tossed out the window.
I noticed they removed the Breaking Bad and Nintendo themes also. But the windows theme was still there last time I checked. Apparently cuz nobody cares about Windows, lmao
Nintendo themes? Now I wish I had given this a download when it first came out.
Don’t mean to be rude but I don’t want my android to look like a iPhone.. I enjoy my Android icons!!!
Sorry, but I don’t understand why you blame Apple. Apple is the biggest patent troll, but I think this in particular is well deserved: a stupid app that helps stupid people to pretend their Android devices are stupid IPhones, basically because of status. I hope the app completely disappears and pay Apple tons for their stupid patents/copyrights.
But I hope even more that people get less superficial.
Yes, because making your phone UI look like iOS is the ONLY thing it can do. It’s one theme amongst hundreds, if not thousands. God forbid people have choice.
Then what’s to stopApple from going after other launchers that have some detail similar to iOS?
They can be similar, but not exactly the same as the iOS6/7 icons. I searched for both iLauncher and Espier Launcher and was surprised when they had changed their icons.
Meanwhile, there’s tons of other themes and icons taken directly from iOS 6/7 that have never once gotten a complaint from Apple.
I used an iOS7 theme (I don’t think it was on Themer, could be wrong) for only one reason: To send my friend into a panic because I knew he’d think I’d lost my mind. It worked. I laughed. And I deleted it immediately. lol, one reason I like Android is because it looks nothing like iOS.
Troll
Level – mindfuck
Level – foreveralone
IMO, the title is slightly misleading. Apple isn’t the only party to blame in this, as Google has been fairly non-responsive to the Themer devs. I mean, they haven’t heard a peep from Google in over a week, and it could be weeks more before they do.
troll article
can’t find themer on google play? blame google.
I just downloaded and installed the app from the Play Store
I just installed it from the Play Store. I guess it’s back up.
My Uncle Zachary
recently got a 9 month old Mercedes-Benz CL-Class CL63 AMG only from working
off a home pc… go now Big41.ℂom
Sounds like a manwhore
Apple is why we can’t have nice things.
I dislike Apple’s business practices, but copyright must be respected. Whoever
wrote that app put themselves in the crosshair.
Now, of course, a way will be found to offer the theme with “user supplied
icons.” And with screen dumping, it is child’s play to come up with them
and share them with others. All legal.
Soo fkn sick of apple and their bullshit.
Death to you, you rotten fkn piece of fruit.