Inside Apple's iPhone SDK Gag Order

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Tom Yager takes a closer look at Apple's iPhone SDK confidentiality agreement, which restricts developers from discussing the SDK or exchanging ideas with others, thereby leaving no room for forums, newsgroups, open source projects, tutorials, magazine articles, users' groups, or books. But because anyone is free to obtain the iPhone SDK by signing up for it, Apple is essentially branding publicly available information as confidential. This 'puzzling contradiction' is the 'antithesis of the developer-friendly Apple Developer Connection' on which the iPhone SDK program is based, Yager contends. 'You'll see arguments from armchair legal analysts that the iPhone developer Agreements won't stand up in court — but those analysts certainly won't stand up in court on your behalf.' Anyone planning to launch an iPhone forum or open source project should have 'a lawyer draft your request for exemption, and make sure that the Apple staffer granting it personally commits to status as authorized to approve exceptions to the iPhone Registered Developer and iPhone SDK Agreements,' Yager warns."

Comments

This will have to change...

[Karpe]

Stanford has announced that it will be offering an iPhone development course. I would also expect that many books on iPhone development are being edited to be published soon. For these to occur, iPhone development information cannot be under NDA. So it's just a matter of time. Apple is not stupid.

Re:If this is the computing model of the future

[trawg]

I like Nokia's new advertising platform:

http://www.opentoanything.com/

At a glance it looks like they've identified Apple's closed stance is a big gripe for developers and hardcore tech-types, and they're going after that market.

Obviously they've also got Google on the other side, but I hope they do well out of this. If they stop spamming out a billion different mobile models a year and focus on getting some nice, neat hardware backed by some good open source, get enough developer support, and they could have something going on.

Re:Not quite accurate

[dredwerker]

The N810 has a much better res screen, it runs linux, it runs lots of opensource apps. It will connect up to your 3g phone to give you 3g access. It has a keyboard. It will also run Google Android. The Apple kit is shiney but try typing an email on a touch screen hmmm nice. O and while I am at it where is that GPS in the touch ? I want a new Iphone 3g for some inexplicable reason, it is shiney and its kinda fun. I wont buy one though. I hate locked down kit.

What uttter nonsense.

[jcr]

The iPhone SDK is still a beta release, and the restrictions on discussing it are precisely the same as we Apple developers have always had for developer seed releases of OS X. Jager's trolling for page hits.

-jcr