[mr_donk]

I posted on the previous article as well, and on RA's blog as "concerned bystander", lest you think I'm just stealing his ideas ;)

I've done some googling and found a reference saying AirPlay is supposedly licensed by Apple for $4 per instance to device makers.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/24/airplays-hidden-agend...

Assuming RA would have been able to license it for the same price, they would have to charge $7 for the feature to make up the difference, which is pretty steep on the App store. The bigger question is: Would Apple give them a license? My gut says no, not for an iOS application, but who can say?

I asked on the "under the microscope" blog if Apple mentioned licensing at all in what little communication they've had... I noticed RA never seems to mention licensing, not sure if it's an intentional omission or just coincidence. They had to know going into this that they were playing with fire using the leaked key.

If Apple does claim the removal was over non-public APIs, I think they're being disingenuous. I can't believe a developer like RA would be doing that knowingly or not.

[ChrisLTD]

It's a weird situation, because the iPhone is already an Apple product. Why would Apple require a licensing fee for their own device?

[bradleyland]

Welcome to today's world of intellectual property. You're not buying a "thing" anymore. You're buying the thing, as well as a license for all the stuff that it can do.

The two are inseparable from a pragmatic standpoint, but current intellectual property law doesn't take that in to account. That is why you can jailbreak your phone without legal consequence, but Apple doesn't have to make any provisions in their software/firmware to allow you to do so.