14 DAY TRIAL // Apple developers indicate that a Mac OS X 10.6.6 software update tasked with adding Mac App Store support is to arrive in the coming weeks, while a Mac version of the popular Cydia application is coming as well, Jay Freeman (Saurik) said at the 360|MacDev conference for developers.
Cydia allows users of a jailbroken iOS device to browse and download applications, themes, ringtones etc. that didn’t get Apple’s approval.
Developed by Jay Freeman (also known as "saurik"), Cydia was originally released as an open-source alternative to Installer.app on iOS 1.1.x, but quickly became the most popular package manager upon the app’s 2.0 release.
A report by MacStories reveals that “Jay Freeman, a.k.a. Saurik, creator of popular alternative store Cydia for jailbroken devices, told the attendees of 360|MacDev✓ that Cydia is coming to the Mac.”
The Cydia gatekeeper trusts that the graphical front end to APT and the dpkg package management system could make a great contribution to the Macintosh, “and so he announced that it’s launching ‘within weeks’," according to the aforementioned source.
It is believed that Cydia will be aimed at offering system mods and tweaks, theme installation etc. Most likely, these are only the initial goals of the Cydia service for Mac.
The release should occur at the same time, or around the release of Mac OS X 10.6.6, which contains elements required to support the forthcoming Mac App Store.
On December 2, Apple seeded the second Mac OS X 10.6.6 test build to its developer community whose members claimed to have spotted a “Golden Master” listing.
Mac OS X 10.6.6 Build 10J537 reportedly offers "developer support for fetching and renewing App Store receipts."
The GM designation indicates that the public launch of 10.6.6 is not far off, while the Mac App Store is due out not later than January 2011.
Apple made it clear that its Mac App Store will not support demos, trials, or any kind of lite-version apps, which makes even more sense for a desktop version of Cydia to exist.