Comments on: Apple drops NDA for iPhone developers

Nondisclosure agreement was a huge source of frustration among iPhone developers, who are now free to discuss their released software among themselves.

[mmntech]

I think Apple finally realized how big of a PR nightmare it would have been if they continued with it. What puzzles me is why Apple is doing this to begin with. It's not like they're loosing money if you use an iPhone app that "overlaps" with an official Apple one. There's tons of third party applications that overlap with Apple software on their computers and they don't seem to have a problem with that. I'm just puzzled as to why the iPhone/iPod Touch are being treated differently. I just see no reason why the iPhone has to be a closed system.

[deftdrummer]

Mmntech: The iphone and ipod touch are both closed systems and have been since their inception. They are both bound by the same developer requirements and have a set of rules that bar developers that make applications which compete with Apple's own apps. I agree though, its not like they are losing money on these things, they will all only help to compound the hype around the iphone, which will in turn help to sell more phones for Apple. The most frustrating part for me is when I have been following a developer's blog that states they have submitted their application to Apple a month or so ago and still it is not posted on the app store, and is in limbo. This seems to happen with all the "killer" voice and data apps. What we are left with are novelty items and baby games for the iphone. It is such a shame, because the iphone is such a powerhouse it needs to be put to good use.

[timsaky]

Way to go Apple!

[ewelch]

It's not that simple. They don't bar apps that compete with Apple apps specifically. What they have done ( and so far only six apps have been barred out of thousands - a minor point whiners tend to avoid pointing out).

What Apple won't allow is when other apps screw up the way Apple apps work. Podcaster being the poster child for that. It screws up the feature in podcasts that keep track of where you stopped listening. With iTunes, it keeps track of that spot on all your devices. Podcaster broke that. If Podcaster had played nice with that, maybe Apple wouldn't have given them the heave-ho. And the developer seems more interested in complaining about it than fixing it.

Other developers have related stories of Apple notifying them of the same kind of thing. And they show that the note from Apple tells them how to fix it and encourages them to resubmit.

So time will tell if this is true, or if the whiners really have something to complain about.

[Nodack]

Apple hired this computer engineer guy to work for them once and after awhile he decided to take everything he had learned from APPL and apply it to his own new product he called Windows.

Forgive them if they aren't as trustworthy after that as they used to be.

[snorky22]

Now Apple has Eric Schmidt on the board of directors. The NDA should be targeted at HIM!

[Penguinisto]

Nice... NDA's are always a PITA for any project where you're the third-party dev.

BTW: to the commenter who said that Apple is a closed system? Well, not entirely. The core of OSX --Darwin-- is quite open-source: http://www.opensource.apple.com

[kboateng]

ewelch I highly doubt that only 6 Apps have been barred, out of the thousands released. That is literally impossible seeing as how there were low budget apps that people developed just for the sake of seeing how they would work on the phone and I'm sure they were not allowed. And as CNET reported in their ode to developers asking them to jump ship from the iphone to Android, they noted that it most of those rejected are way more than the ones allowed. Also if you watch that video above they do say that a lot of people received rejection letters so it couldn't have been just 6. Apple just wants to monopolize. And Nodack it is too late to cry about Windows now lol.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple dropped a turd...because they saw the writing on the wall with Android poised to kick their ass.