Wi-Fi Sync and Wi-Fi Sync: An amazing coincidence? You decide

About a year ago, we told you about Greg Hughes, a British university student and iOS developer. Hughes created the jailbreak app Wi-Fi Sync (US$9.99), which gives your iPhone the capability to "wirelessly sync with iTunes at the touch of a button." The app was turned down by Apple last May, at which time Hughes was given very little explanation as to why his app would not be making it into the App Store. Wi-Fi Sync has had very good success in the Cydia jailbreak store, with Hughes reporting in an interview today that the app has chalked up over 50,000 sales.

Now fast forward to the WWDC keynote on June 6, 2011. Apple announced a number of new features that will be available in iOS 5 this fall. One of the big features is something called ... wait for it ... Wi-Fi Sync. Guess what it does? According to the description on the Apple website, Wi-Fi Sync in iOS 5 lets you "wirelessly sync your iOS device to your Mac or PC over a shared Wi-Fi connection."

OK, so maybe Apple was working on this capability in April of 2010 when Hughes first submitted Wi-Fi Sync to the App Store. But is it a coincidence that the Apple Wi-Fi Sync icon is almost identical to the one that Hughes had a designer create for him last year? Check out Hughes' icon below at left, and Apple's new icon at right. Interesting...

Personally, I like the Hughes icon design better. This isn't the only case of Sherlocking -- the apparent appropriation by Apple of features previously available in third-party apps -- that we've seen this week. Many features that were available only through Cydia apps in the past are now going to appear on iPhones in iOS 5. It seems to me that Apple, particularly in the case of some rather amazing "coincidences" like Wi-Fi Sync, would want to reach out to the developers who brought features to iOS well before the company did. Apple should reach out and reward the developers for showing the foresight and skill to demonstrate powerful new features, even if the company didn't "borrow" those features. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen.

If you aren't opposed to jailbreaking your iPhone and want the Wi-Fi Sync capability before iOS 5 appears this autumn, be sure to reward Hughes by purchasing his app. Sales of the Cydia Wi-Fi Sync app are sure to plummet when iOS 5 finally arrives.

So, TUAW readers, what do you think? Was Apple working on Wi-Fi Sync a year ago and that's why they turned down the Hughes app? Or did Apple borrow freely from his work? Leave us your observations in the comments.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/14/hacksugar-wireless-itunes-syn…

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is it a coincidence that the Apple Wi-Fi Sync icon is almost identical to the one that Hughes had a designer create for him last year?

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Hero Jig

@ Rooj, you are so correct, and I feel so ripped off as well. I have macs, and it donna work there either, and there is no support. If Apple had put the app in the store, perhaps consumers reviews there would have MADE this developer respond, but so far, hiding behind the Cydia wall, he has not. What a (bad) joke.

December 27 2011 at 10:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MarcusWellington

September 22 2011 at 9:40 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rooj

Thank god Apple are doing something about it! I paid $9.99 for this rubbish application that does not work on Windows with false promises of upgrades "real soon" by the developer. His web pages are garbage - most links are broken and worse, he does't' answer ANY emails!!! So if Apple brings it out. at least we know it'll work. And it will be free. I hope Hughes pulls his finger out and fixes this up or he'll be history. My warning is - if you own Windows, don't buy his app. Its crap!

September 01 2011 at 8:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ben Anderson

Oh please... The logo is just the sync logo with the wifi logo slapped in the middle. WiFi + Sync = WiFi Sync.

Lets also not forget that Hughes' app is just a hack to trick iTunes and iOS into thinking that its docked via USB. Apple's WiFi Sync connects to a centralised cloud service and checks with the user's account for anything that it can automatically and quietly download to the device which is present on other devices and is also an operating system service, not an application.

They are both completely different applications that share a generic name and incredibly obvious icon design (again, WiFi Logo + Sync Logo = WiFi Sync Logo). I have no sympathy for Hughes, he's just a uni student with a hispter scarf freaking out in rage without reading into it first.

A good analogy of this entire story is Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.
Oh look! They both contain "Word" in the title! Oh look, they both have typical writing instruments like pens and/or paper in their icons!
HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY PRODUCT EVEN THOUGH IT DOES NOT SHARE ANY SOURCE CODE AND I AM BASING THE IDEA OF THEFT OF FRIVOLOUS ATTRIBUTES OF EACH PRODUCT!

If I see Hughes in person, I'll pimp slap him.

June 11 2011 at 2:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Adrian von Gegerfelt

I concur that the similarity in icon design is striking, but I must say that Apple's Wi-fi Sync also reminds me of Apple's iSync...

June 09 2011 at 11:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Brandycmc

Same as the other commenters... THANK GOODNESS FOR APPLE!
I bought WifiSync in November on the promise that a 'better' (read:"working") version would be out in December. Despite many promises and false dawns, still NOTHING.

This guy raked in the cash, and didn't deliver. Appalling.

June 09 2011 at 5:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mal Young

I bought WIFI SYNC - thought it was no bad, but very buggy at first, and rather over-priced at $10 - then it stopped working completely. TOTAL waste of money. Impossible to get a refund. Very happy that Apple are doing it themselves and will do it properly

June 09 2011 at 4:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mal Young

I bought WIFI SYNC - thought it was good, but very buggy at first, and rather over-priced nat $10 - then it stopped working completely. TOTAL waste of money. Very happy that Apple are doing it themselves and will do it properly.

June 09 2011 at 4:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Mal Young's comment

Pokemon Interpreter

so freaking stupid. it worked and was 5x as slow as a USB but i thought "hey i can walk all around the house while it is syncing!" then it stopped working. I rebooted my computer, ipod, reset my ipod, itunes, reinstalled on both ipod and computer, reinstalled itunes, and nothing worked. it still says "searching" and it cant find it. Waste of money i see why Apple rejected it. It works for 14 days then it breaks itself so it never works again.

August 02 2011 at 2:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bob James

I actually BOUGHT "Wi-Fi Sync" and it was total garbage. And Hughes was a disgrace as a developer.

I have a JB iPhone 4 with very few JB apps on it to muck things up. Every time I launched it, it crashed. Was never "up" for more than 2 seconds. And NO updates have ever been supplied in the months after I bought it.

I e-mailed Hughes and got an automated reply that says, literally, I get too much e-mail. I might reply to you. I might not.

He never did.

After a week of non-reply or ability to get a $10 app working, I filed a Paypal complaint. Eventually got my money back. Never did hear from Hughes.

Hughes' Wifi-Sync was not a unique idea and it was crap.

Apple's will be flawless, free and "just work."

No sympathy for this guy.

June 09 2011 at 1:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

sinfuljosh@me.com

The more I see these the more I wonder, why not have these jailbroken programmers copyright their designs and implimentation. And when apple ends up adding them to their ios they can demand royalties...

June 08 2011 at 11:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply