As you already know, the VLC application was delay from the AppStore last week by Apple for violating the rules regarding the possibility of using the application on more than 5 iDevices. This was the assumption based on which everyone presented the news last week, but in reality no one knows, not even the developers of the application, the real reason why the application was withdrawn. The president of the VideoLAN company was informed by a lawyer of the Apple company that the VLC application was withdrawn from the AppStore, but the reason for the withdrawal was not explained to him.
At last, Apple has removed VLC media player from its application store. Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the AppStore terms of use is resolved – the hard way. I am not going to pity the owners of iDevices, and not even the MobileVLC developers who undoubtedly wasted a lot of their time. This end should not have come as a surprise to anyone.
The VLC application is developed under the GNU license, which practically means that anyone can use the application without any restrictions. Apple imposes a limit of 5 devices on which an application can be used, so it is as clear as possible that the VLC application violates this rule. The developer of the application notified Apple about this incompatibility more than 2 months ago, but since then and until now, Apple has not bothered to change that rule, although it has made other changes through regulations. In conclusion, no one, not even the developer of the application, knows why Apple made this decision and we will probably never find out. Until another one you can download the application from Cydia.
Here is what the application developer said on the blog Company.
On January 7th, I was told by an Apple attorney that VLC media player had been removed from the App Store. That is how I was able to break the news first. However as can be expected from an attorney, there was not really any explanation. A number of people and -unfortunately- popular bloggers have jumped to the obvious conclusion: the VideoLAN project, and I in particular would be idealist morons who care more about technical license details than users, and we would have constrained Apple. This is not quite true.
First, even I do not know for certain why Apple removed VLC, and Apple will probably never state the truth.
Second, Apple has already removed VLC from the "old" Mac Store for computers... already about 4 years ago, at a time when VLC was one of the most popular applications, and I am yet to learn the reasons why.
Third, Apple received my copyright notification more than 2 months before they pulled the application. This was not expedited, as the US copyright law would require. As such, it seems doubtful that my well-publicized notification from last October is the root cause of the removal. It is nevertheless the reason why I learned directly from Apple that VLC was removed.
Last, Apple had the power and plenty of time (2 months) to adjust and clarify the terms of the App Store. Indeed, said terms were modified several times since then. Alternatively, Apple could even have continued to carry VLC implicitly distributed under the GPL by Applidium. This is effectively what I believe the situation was before the removal.
all in all, we will probably never know the truth. But I am inclined to believe what Eben Mogel, from the Software Freedom Law Center, foretold me 2 months ago: Apple would remove VLC simply because it cannot stand software distributed under the GPL on its stores. But, it is Apple's choice and business decision, therefore Apple would have no reasons to expedite the process. It could also be that they do not specifically fancy VLC on their platforms. That would account for the removal from the Mac Store a long time ago.
I know this would be disappointing to the many Apple fanboys who have insulted or slandered me on the web or over email in the last few days. But I might not be the (anti-)hero people made me.
