Finding a good theme for a jailbroken iPhone has always been a challenge. Themes are either posted online in designers’ and developers’ forums, outside the reach of the “mainstream” jailbreaking audience, or they’re arranged haphazardly in Cydia, the jailbreak app store. Neither is an ideal solution for users interested in customizing their device.
Now, things are about to change. A new jailbreak app store called “Theme It” is preparing to launch, billing itself as “the Theme Store you’ve been waiting for.” When it launches in January (tentatively), it will be available as both a standalone mobile app like Cydia as well as a mobile-friendly website.
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A “Curated” Collection of High-Quality Themes
The ability to install themes is one of the many reasons people jailbreak their iPhones. Apps like Summerboard and Winterboard allow users to install different icon sets, docks, widgets, battery icons, lock screens and all sorts of other tweaks that make the iPhone feel like a more personalized device than simply swapping wallpapers does. Themes make the iPhone unique, and with the top-end designers working on some of the creations, they can be just as beautiful as anything Apple has designed, only different.
We fist heard about Theme It’s impending launch via Twitter chatter, and were immediately intrigued. After getting in touch with one of the site’s founders, a guy who just goes by the name of “Gab” online (or “FIF7Y,” as his design site is called), we learned that the store plans to incorporate only high-end, complete themes – in other words, a “curated” collection. “The goal of Theme it isn’t to have a million themes in the gallery… but the best ones available,” the app store’s homepage explains.
It also plans to solve the problems that accompany viewing themes and other customizations within Cydia, which is time-consuming and cumbersome. In Cydia, you have to tap into each section, then tapp the app and wait as details about the download emerge slowly. The load times there can be excruciating – just ask any jailbreak user. Sometimes there are screenshots and accompanying text alongside the app in question, sometimes not.
In Theme It, however, speed is one of the service’s main goals. It plans to offer a “fast and reactive interface,” with short load times and “almost instant access to the content you want,” reads the site’s homepage. The app store will also feature designer bios, extensive theme details, customization options (e.g. you can turn email notifications on or off, enable or disable previews, etc.) and more.
Revenue Opportunity for Designers?
Gab says that the app store will only include paid themes at launch but will soon incorporate both free and paid themes. Themes for the iPad may become available as well, in the future. Designers and developers interested in having their themes hosted on Theme It can submit their creations through a dev portal found directly on the Theme It site (not live yet).
There is no hard data on the number of iPhones that are jailbroken. Cydia’s founder Jay Freeman (aka “Saurik”) claims that 10% are, but recent estimates from analytics firm Flurry (cited by the New York Times) say that the real number fluctuates between 5%-8%. But with 70 million or so iPhones sold since launch, even tapping into this small percentage of jailbreakers can translate into a large number of users.
Although Theme It has not officially launched, you can see what it will look like here on YouTube or browse around the website at http://www.themeitapp.com.
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