Armory Browser Cease and Desist

There has been an interesting turn of events to the native iPhone and iPod Touch application called Armory Browser [iTunes link]. I reviewed this application just a few days ago and on Friday the new 1.1 update was available on the App Store.

I was about to do a followup review outlining the changes in this update but found out that Blizzard has issued the developer, Kelly Heffner (aka Theoria) of Pwnies, a cease and desist notice. Apparently Blizzard views this as an unauthorized application and that it is potentially causing them "irreparable damage".

Now I'm wondering if the other iPhone application developers have received a similar notice? There are presently four World of Warcraft related native iPhone and iPod touch applications on the App Store, two of them are free (Warcraft Characters [iTunes link] and WarcraftStat [iTunes link]) and the other two are paid (Armory Browser and Warcraft Arena Calculator [iTunes link]) at 99 cents (US) each.

It may be that Blizzard is taking issue to the fact that Armory Browser is a paid application, and that it's using or accessing their freely provided service (the official WoW Armory), but that is purely speculation on my part. If this is the case I wonder if just providing the application for free will stop continued action?

I don't know all the legal issues or circumstances behind this notice, but regardless of the real reason it appears that Armory Browser will no longer be developed and will be pulled from Apple's App Store on Monday, August 25, 2008.

It's really too bad as it seemed the developer was really keen on making a nice application and feature rich application. The new release added improvements including a "Favorites" feature so you didn't have to keep retyping in your character's name, as well as some beautiful artwork commissioned from KiroColor.

The "Find an Upgrade" button still opened up mobile Safari, but I was told by Theoria (via an email) that it was done intentionally for the initial release to avoid any confrontation with Blizzard. Ironic isn't it?

Perhaps this is a warning to all developers to be careful what they are doing with Blizzard's intellectual property. Perhaps it's an indication that Blizzard may be working on their own native iPhone armory browser? Again, just speculation.

I truly hope this turns out differently.