8 Features Apple Has Borrowed for iOS 5

iOS 5 could remain in history as the operating system whose most features have been inspired by other developers. Apple has taken a peak into the jailbreakers’ garden and “borrowed” the most popular features available so as to embed them in its iOS.
The company now offers many features that usually would have been available on jailbroken iPhones only. Users must certainly be happy since they can now save the money they would have paid for the respective Cydia apps.
Here are some of the most important features Apple has taken from others:

• 1. The Notifications Center is strikingly similar to Peter Hajas’ MobileNotifier and with Android’s notification system. Hajas has recently been hired by Apple, by the way.
• 2. Wi-Fi Sync – the feature was available via a homonym app from Cydia. Apparently, Apple rejected the app just in 2010.
• 3. Lockscreen notifications are similar to LockInfo or Smartscreen, two tweaks that have been available in Cydia for a long time.
• 4. Video Out became available only in iOS 4.3. Apple offered users the change to perform video mirroring on their gadgets’ displays, but Cydia had offered apps such as DisplayOut long before.

• 5. The option to take photos using the volume control buttons. Snappy is one of the first tweaks that offered this function and Apple realized its importance, therefore decided to integrate the feature in its iOS.
• 6. Personal HotSpot –The MyWi app became almost useless after Apple launched the Personal HotSpot feature in its iOS 4.3 which enabled users to turn their iPhones into Wi-Fi HotSpots. MyWi is still a popular app because it lets iPad owners use their tablet as a HotSpot. Apple still has not enabled the Personal HotSpot feature for the iPad.
• 7. FaceTime over 3G – many tweaks enabling FaceTime video calls over 3G became available last year and recent rumors suggest Apple is planning to turn FaceTime into a native iOS feature.
• 8. Apps – before the AppStore, there was Installer and other such centers that let users run third-party apps.

The good news is that Apple has taken these concepts and improved them to a certain extent. The bad news is the company has not offered anything to the real developers.
The list can go on and on, but I think we all got the point: many iOS 5 features have not been developed in Apple’s backyard; the tech giant has rather borrowed them from its neighbors’ gardens.