This is kind of a weird story, but definitely an interesting one. Word is going around that Toyota, of all brands, might be advertising on the ModMyi repository. Supposedly there's an official Scion interface theme on sale in the jailbreak store, and there are ads for the car manufacturer running throughout. That's fascinating -- traditionally, the jailbreak scene has been extremely independent, sitting as it does in a relatively gray legal area, but Toyota is a serious client to have when it comes to advertising.
In fact, it's exactly the kind of client that Apple would like for its iAd program, which has been suffering a bit lately. Of course, it's probably way cheaper to put up some ads on ModMyi and even create a free theme than it would be to buy in to iAd, but that's still ad revenue on an Apple device that Apple isn't getting, so we can't see why they'd be happy about that one. If this is a trend that continues to grow, it could have a serious effect on jailbreak or unofficial app marketplaces.
Note that the original reporting on this story said that it was the Cydia store that was getting the sponsorship, which Cydia founder Jay Freeman pointed out was incorrect.
Toyota puts up theme, ads on ModMyi jailbreak repository originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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