Please let us use third party Chinese input methods

Dear Tim Cook,

I am a faithful iOS user. I have an iPhone, an ipod Touch and an iPad. I do not use pirated apps. However, I always jailbreak my iOS devices. Why? Because I need to use third party Chinese input methods, and due to the restrictions imposed by Apple, that cannot be done without jailbreaking.

Many Chinese iOS users jailbreak their iDevices for the same one reason.

The importance of input methods is needless to say. As for the built-in input method shipped with the iOS, to be fair, it is usable, and is gradually improving. But it is still no comparison to the variety of input methods offered by native Chinese developers/users. They offer many nice and handy features for all kinds of needs, for instance, Double input (Shuangpin), 9-key input (K9), 5-stroke input (Wubi), etc.

Besides, because the third party input methods are indepent, they do not have to wait  for the whole OS, enabling them to update more quickly and actively. They get updates like once every few months.

Almost all the third party Chinese input methods are developed by top companies in Chinese IT industry, such as QQ, Sogou, Baidu, etc. I am sure they all love to use the App Store to distribute their products. But now they are limited to the jailbroken community.

If Apple opens the input method APIs in iOS, all these input methods can go to App Store, and the number of jailbreakers in China may reduce dramatically. Apple, developers, users — everybody is happy! :)

I talk about Chinese, but similar situation may apply to other languages. I sincerely hope that you think about this. Thank you!

Best wishes,

Betty

大意是:很多人越狱就是为了装输入法。输入法的重要性不必多说了。这些输入法都是中国 IT 界的顶尖企业开发的,肯定愿意用 App Store,但现在情况逼得他们只能面向越狱用户。如果苹果开放输入法的接口,这些大企业肯定会把输入法放进 App Store,中国越狱用户可能会大大减少,苹果也高兴,开发者、用户也都高兴。

其实这种信当初发给乔布斯应该更合适,但当时我没想起来这个主意,现在乔布斯不在了,只能发给 Tim Cook 了,不知道有没有用,试试吧……

如果你也有兴趣给 Tim Cook 写信的话,他的邮箱是 tcook@apple.com