There is good news for the app sector this week after a local judge tossed out a lawsuit which would have blocked a test of New York City’s proposal to let passengers hail yellow cabs via smartphone apps.

The ruling follows a temporary restraining order after livery and black-car services sued New York City to stop the plan. However, the judge this week rejected arguments that the plan would lead to less availability of taxis and passenger discrimination.

The plaintiffs may appeal. But city officials see the ruling as a victory.

“The market will ultimately decide which apps rise or fall, and we have an obligation to give the riding public that choice,” David S. Yassky, New York City’s taxi commissioner, said in a statement quoted by The New York Times on Tuesday. “Thanks to today’s ruling, they have that choice.”

Smartphone apps are used for livery and black-car services. But late last year, the city’s taxi commission approved testing them for yellow cabs.

GetTaxi, Uber and Hailo have already tried to take part with their apps in the city’s yellow cab market.

“The way the taxi hailing apps work is by letting potential passengers put their location information into the app, which is then sent to yellow cabs. The first taxi to arrive on the scene gets to pick up the customer,” according to a report from CNET.

Uber also has met opposition in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Colorado, and San Francisco.

"Ever since our initial launch of Uber for New York City yellow cabs in September, we've been saying that you can't stop progress when the people want it enough," Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a statement quoted by CNET. "New York City has some of the deepest dug-in, most entrenched special interests in the country. The fact that Taxi Commissioner David Yassky and Mayor Mike Bloomberg (News - Alert) were able to overcome the transportation industry's blatant self-interest should be a lesson for other cities and states who also want to be forward-looking, tech-friendly and visionary."

New York City passengers appear happy with the ruling. “If I was drunk in Brooklyn, I’d want to be able to hit ‘hail cab’ [on my phone] and have them come to me without any confusion,” Tom Clary, 28, told The New York Post.

Another app under development, called YellowCabNYC, has come on the scene too and it claims to be “the first one designed specifically with the Big Apple (News - Alert) in mind.”

"We've set out to develop a no-nonsense e-hailing app that's not only the most cost-effective, but which is the only one specifically tailored to the needs of New Yorkers. Other e-hailing apps might 'hail' from urban locales such as San Francisco and even London, England; however, the scale and dimension of the challenges New York City presents are utterly unique," Mark Jakubczak, one of the co-creators of the forthcoming app, was quoted by TMCnet as stating. "With our built-in network of drivers and fleet operators, we anticipate rapid circulation and acceptance of what should prove an indispensable tool; both for drivers who will download the app because it's free, and for the riding public who will download the app because it's both useful and efficient."