While Apple has rules on the kinds of functionality allowed in apps available through the iTunes App Store, some developers are busy thinking out of the box on the Cydia store and Irish app developer Steven Troughton-Smith is one of them.
Orbit, like all Cydia apps, runs on jail-broken iPhone handsets, and has found a way to access all your iPhone’s apps at a glance.
“Simply tap the Orbit icon and you’re zoomed to what I dub the ‘Orbital View’ of your home screen. From there, you can tap any of the pages to zoom directly there. For anyone with many pages of apps, this will change the way you use your device, I guarantee,” said Troughton-Smith on his blog.
As testament to the amount of iPhone users hungry for a new way to organise their multitude of apps, Orbit made US$5,000 on the first day of its release.
Troughton-Smith developed the app after Swedish firm Ocean Observations posted a concept video on YouTube for something they dubbed “SpringBoard Exposé”; a proposed multitasking navigation system for the iPhone.
Inspired by this, Troughton-Smith came up with his own version of iPhone app navigation and Orbit was born.
Troughton-Smith is the developer behind the popular LightsOff app and has four apps on sale through the iTunes App Store.
By Marie Boran
