Udid Replacement Solutions For Ios App Developers Looking Grim

If one were to look at the source that triggered the controversy, most would attribute it the Wall Street Journal article in 2010 with its title �Your apps are watching you.’ The investigative journalists mentioned how apps obtain demographic information without prior permission from their users. Not that investigating 101 of the thousands of mobile apps was not enough justification, but it was enough for withdrawal and decline of apps usage on a mass scale. Despite Apple and Android’s Google assurances and clarifications of maintaining strict privacy policies, now, over a year later, the insecurity prevails, as Apple beginning with rejecting third-party developer applications on the iOS5 beta, stops access to UDID (Unique Device Identification).
As yet, there has been no official announcement, but some major rejections of iOS apps clearly state the reason being that the app did not take inform user for obtaining their personal data. Similar rejections have caused a panic in the developer and mobile advertiser community.
Advantages of the UDID, besides user identification, include the ability to automatically tracks metrics such as the number of clicks on an app, the time duration spent on an app and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) through in app purchases. Most developers claimed they used UDID exclusively to �push notifications.’ Most importantly, it is important data for advertisements and therefore, a means of revenue generation for developers. The main drawback is that users have no control over the automated access to information.
The developer community is still trying to come up with an exact substitute, which will take sometime. In the meantime, advertisement and application monetization companies such as AppRedeem have made some headway into alternatives and one of its several leading clients, Groupon has already implemented through SDK.
So far, there are viable options that are being considered as substitute for UDID, some of which are highlighted below:
1.OpenUDID. Using Objective C-Class, it is a free open source tool that applications can share. Identification can be removed and reinserted into the app. Efforts are underway to standardize the use for advertisers and publishers.
2.Secure UDID
3.ODIN (Open Device Identification Number): It is still a half-baked project and according to reviews, it will have similar privacy concerns as UDID and is dependent on information obtained from Mac addresses.
4.Adfonic/AD-X: This is a collaboration to track campaigns and in app inventory on the mobile.
5.Third party solutions: These are more or less dependent on external browsers, cookies or HTML5 database to track information.
For most of these, chances look grim. It is only once termination of UDID altogether becomes official and applicable for all mobile apps, it remains to be seen how many, or how few options remain that will be viable enough for the developer and advertiser communities to use. Whatever the method, mobile companies are seemingly unaffected after countering user security. The question that comes to mind is: if developers do not receive enough monetary incentive, then will they continue to generate apps in the same manner, with the same enthusiasm and at the same rate and pace as they do now? It is time that mobile companies come up with a definite and strategic plan to keep app developers tied to their seats.