[macfantn]

I know apple is offering 3rd party apps on the 11th, but what about themes. Is this too much to ask for? There are tons of cool iphone themes, but I don't want to hack my phone to use them.

http://www.thememyphone.com/displayi...tup-0-129.html

will they allow for stuff like this in the app store?

[Chuckit]

The App Store, as the name implies, is for apps. It might be worth your time to write Apple and suggest themes. (Whether they'll do it is a different question, of course — we all know how much Apple loves theming.)

[turtle777]

Themes never appealed to me. What is it that makes them so great ?

-t

[Tiresias]

I don't know about themes, but I'd like to be able to change the colour of my folders in OS X.

Why only always and inevitably sky blue? Why? Why? Why?

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by macfantn 

I know apple is offering 3rd party apps on the 11th, but what about themes. Is this too much to ask for? There are tons of cool iphone themes, but I don't want to hack my phone to use them.

http://www.thememyphone.com/displayi...tup-0-129.html

will they allow for stuff like this in the app store?

No. GUI enhancements aren't allowed. You'll just have to get used to Apple and it is closed system.

[Laminar]

Don't we have an iPhone section?

[imitchellg5]

Yeah, but nobody sees it nowadays.

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Steve Jobs doesn't like themes. He wants a consistent interface and has put a lot of work into making that happen. One of his first actions after coming back to Apple was to kill themes in Mac OS 8 during development. I doubt Apple will ever officially offer themes for the iPhone or Mac.

Having said that, I don't think it would be out of the question if someone were to sell a theme app. Perhaps someone already has plans to do so and we will see it in the app store.

[Visnaut]

It's a branding thing. It makes sense that potential buyers see and experience a solid, consistent product.

And as for the themes themselves, a very large proportion of them are absolute garbage. The one you linked to, macfantn, looks like someone puked in shades of gray. Those aren't even real icons, just butchered versions of Apple's.

When I was a teenager, I used to enjoy themes and tweaking interfaces, and even making my own. Hell, a large part of my career today revolves around interface design. But after a while, when you realize that themes, in any incarnation, be it for Kaleidoscope, WinAmp, Windows, iPhone, you name it, are largely created by people who have no sense of design, consistency or honesty (icons get ripped off like nobody's business), then you tend to write off the idea in general. There are always exceptions to the rule, but having to wade through the 20 shitty ones just to find the one that might be decent just doesn't make it worth it.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Lava Lamp Freak 

Having said that, I don't think it would be out of the question if someone were to sell a theme app. Perhaps someone already has plans to do so and we will see it in the app store.

Not a chance. iPhone apps aren't allowed to mess with anything outside their own sandbox. If such an app is created, it won't be sold through the App Store.

[Salty]

I hope not, that thing's fuglier than Doofy's last hookup.

[Wiskedjak]

"You can have any color you want, as long as it's black"

[SSharon]

I miss the leopard style theme I used when I had my iPhone hacked. The grass background was nicer to look at than plain black and the icons were decent with a nicer looking dock.

I know apple wants a consistent user experience but if they supported themes properly the phone would still work well. It's not like safari crashing all the time is great for the user experience.

[- - e r i k - -]

There will never ever be any Apple sanctioned theming of the iPhone, mark my words.

It's also why apps like this won't be accepted to the AppStore.