\nFamed Windows Phone developer Rudy Huyn teased his new app a few days ago on Twitter. He pushed it through the Windows Phone Store a couple of days ago. Yesterday Rudy’s app hit the Windows Store for general distribution. 24 hours later, he’s being asked by Snapchat’s lawyers to take it down.
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Rudy’s new threat to the SnapChat Empire is a 3rd party app that pulls in SnapChat Discover content called, 6discover. SnapChat Discover is designed as a way for larger known brands like CNN, MTV, National Geographic, People Magazine and the Food Network to create and issue filtered content. Since this is exclusive to major brands, it comes as no surprise that more significant amounts of money are being exchanged for this privilege.
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It seems this privilege clashes with Rudy’s bypass of SnapChat’s ability to pull metrics from the content his apps displays. Without the analytics, Snapchat can’t count the eyeballs of Windows Phone users accurately enough to charge the large brands the right amount of money. Snapchat’s lawyers recently sent the letter you see below to Huyn.
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Unfortunately, it looks like the 6discover app will have a very short shelf-life. The irony of the situation proves that Windows Phone and it developers matter. If you were among one of the privileged companies involved with the Snapchat Discover feature, Rudy’s App was a godsend. Your company was potentially exposed to over 60-80 million people and without any charge to the business. For Snapchat, the argument of not enough market share to allocate resources begins to waiver as the potential to charge these brands for the additional exposure should be a real option.
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As of right now, Rudy is reaching out via Twitter (and we can assume legally) to Snapchat about working to offer the violated analytics in exchange for the app to remain in the Windows Phone Store. With Snapchat’s CEO having openly expressed his disdain for Windows Phone, it will definitely be an uphill battle.
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Hey @evanspiegel can u speak with your lawyers?I’m sure it’s a good thing for U & partners to have more views (1/2) pic.twitter.com/skt39hASO7
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— Rudy Huyn (@RudyHuyn) April 17, 2015 >
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