Apple Drops Part of iPhone Developer NDA

ds writes "Apple, this morning, announced they are dropping the iPhone Developer NDA in respect to released software. Previously, iPhone developers were legally bound even after their software had been released." Another reader adds, "Early release software is still covered, but this should bring about increased developer interaction, as well as a slew of iPhone dev books." The complete message about the NDA change can be seen for now at Apple's iPhone Developer site, and is reproduced below. "We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software. We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don't steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others. However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone's success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released. Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter."

Comments

Re:About freaking time

[2nd Post!]

They were probably waiting for Android to be released.

Android

[SuperKendall]

They wanted to wait for the Android release so the API could not legally borrow too heavily from the iPhone API.

At least, that seems like a reasonable guess...

Re:Android

[XxtraLarGe]

They wanted to wait for the Android release so the API could not legally borrow too heavily from the iPhone API.

I highly doubt it. Google has their own Mac developers and one of the first apps bundled on the iPhone was a YouTube video program. Google has had access to the iPhone API's long before most other developers. Google Mobile App was available on the App Store since July 3. Besides, IIRC, Android is based on Java whereas the iPhone OS X is based on Objective C. More likely, the fear of iPhone developers leaving for Android was an incentive. Hopefully they'll go ahead and drop the whole darned thing since any Tom, Dick or Harry can sign up for the ADC and download the dev tools.

Re:About freaking time

[ShieldW0lf]

I suspect they were waiting for Android. Prior to its arrival, they were pretty much the only game in town, so there wasn't really anywhere for disgruntled developers to flee to.

Re:Expect even more non-app store apps

[Free the Cowards]

Why would this affect jailbreakers? Why would they have ever agreed to an Apple NDA?

Too little too late.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've put my order in for a G1 and I'll be writing applications for that platform from now on. I spent far too long at the mercy of another iron fisted company to want to go back to that kind of situation.

You Have To Be Joking

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple is facing a mass exodus of phone developers with their constant blunders from secrecy and rejecting apps that threaten their own apps.

The cellphone industry is rapidly moving to Android as their standard platform with Motorola being the latest large cellphone company to embrace Google's open source OS with a ramp up of their internal Android team to 500 people.

LG and Sony are next in the queue for Android phone releases and there are huge numbers in the pipeline after them including devices that fall between cellphones and mini-laptops.

To suggest that there is some sort of secret and valuable information in the iPhone SDK that anyone cares about is absolutely inane.

This is just the first step in Apple's fade into niche irrelevance in the cellphone market. Look for future attempts to fend off Android with dropping the fees to release iPhone apps, development on machines that don't require overpriced Macs just to do simple phone app development, and all the other silly shit Apple has going on with the iPhone.

   

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[DurendalMac]

BWAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA! Yeah, the industry is rapidly moving to Android, a platform that has only just seen a released product that is middling at best and has yet to gain a foothold in the market. Yeah, there's a mass exodus of developers from the ridiculously lucrative iPhone market. Yeah, the iPhone is the only competition for Android and vice versa, so Blackberry and Palm don't figure into it at all.

I fucking hate FOSS fanboys.

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[MightyYar]

Apple is facing a mass exodus of phone developers with their constant blunders from secrecy and rejecting apps that threaten their own apps.

Did you just make that up?

The cellphone industry is rapidly moving to Android as their standard platform

Even if this is true... so what? Since Apple doesn't offer their platform to other makers, why would they care what other makers use?

This is just the first step in Apple's fade into niche irrelevance in the cellphone market.

If you take a step back, you'd see that they are already in a niche - supplying just a tiny fraction of cell phones. However, as they always seem to do, they picked a very profitable niche. If it gets too competitive, I wouldn't expect to see them hang around.

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[Renderer of Evil]

This has as much credibility as "Year of the Linux" and "iPod Killers"

Android has yet to ship and create a healthy ecosystem that can be monetized by developers. It's all conjecture now. Just about anyone knows about the iPhone. The brand is really hot and in demand. NDA whining is confined to nerd elite who have found an issue and want to run with it as if it affects the majority of people. It doesn't.

Apple is really shielding itself from all kinds of legal minefields. This issue isn't black and white as some make it out to be. Every company out there wants to see shelves stocked with books targeting their platform. NDA prevents some publishers from releasing books which only goes to prove that Apple isn't doing this to be antagonistic. They have assumed the risk because the alternative could be much worse.

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[wickerprints]

I disagree. I think that the market is largely driven by what consumers want. Apple has a huge head start--they are quite literally years ahead on hardware/software integration, having released a product that has yet to see any equal in overall end-user experience. People absolutely love the iPhone. Relatively speaking, they haven't even heard of what the competitors are offering, and even the recent release of Android has received minimal attention by comparison.

Now that I've established the context, it's easy to see why handset manufacturers and non-AT&T providers in the US are embracing Android. It is their best shot at competing with Apple. They moved too slow, lacked long-term vision, and failed to concede to Apple's demands. And now they're scrambling to keep up. iPhone + iTunes + App Store = killer combination. This has nothing to do with FOSS. Face it, few people have even seen what Android does, let alone have any real-world understanding of how well it will integrate with a variety of handsets and carriers. Because it hasn't happened yet. Maybe it'll be a competitor, maybe it won't. But I can confidently say that whatever the outcome, it won't look or feel nearly as clean as an Apple product.

I've also heard that despite a lot of grumblings by iPhone developers, they generally like the business model. Steve Demeter, for example, is on the record for saying he has no intention of bringing Trism to Android. This coming from a guy who made a quarter million in two months off his blockbuster game. So I don't think you're telling the whole story here. It's the secrecy they don't like, and with this latest turn, Apple has done the right thing.

Frankly, I'm amazed that you didn't get modded down. Your bias is so clearly showing and you lack any evidence to back up your outrageous claims. I think Android can be huge, and I like that Google has stepped up to provide more competition in the mobile computing market. I hope it lives up to the high expectations that the industry has set for it, but I'm not holding my breath because judging from how Motorola, Sony Ericsson, RIM, Palm, Samsung, LG, Nokia, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, etc. have behaved in the past, I don't think they're going to all have some kind of Voltron moment and band together to bring down the "evil Apple."

After all, you're just cheering for one evil corporation to smite the other. Personally, what matters to me most is whether I get the user experience and customer service I expect. If Android facilitates this goal, then I'm all for it. But you won't catch me talking complete bullshit just because I have a stick up my ass about a particular company. That's so last decade.

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[dslbrian]

Actually, isn't this move arguably their step back away from that edge? The developer backlash from the App-denial situation (and the NDA situation) was threatening to put them in a bad spot, and this is a decision in the developers' favor.

Yeah but how many times do you have to be bitten as a developer before you stop going back. I know if I had spent a bunch of time and effort making a complete phone app only to have it rejected at the last minute for some capricious reason, that would be the last time I developed on that platform.

When I read that Apple backed off on the NDA, to me that sounds like - "we are dropping the NDA because everyone got pissed off, yet we reserve the right to screw over developers in the future." They want to operate that way, fine - as a developer I'll spend my time elsewhere.

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[wickerprints]

What makes Apple special on hardware/software integration? You're seriously asking this question? Since when has Nokia or Motorola come out with anything that looks remotely like iTMS? Since when have they developed a UI that is easy to use and intuitive? If I have to hunt through a labyrinth of nested menus to change a setting on my phone, that's poor design, UI as an afterthought. Who was the first to employ an an orientation sensor in a phone, a multi-touch screen, and other hardware improvements and then integrate that with the software? That is what I mean by "years ahead."

The iPhone was not, and is not, perfect. At least Apple never claimed it to be. The fan base might treat it as such, but as is the case with fans, there's often a love/hate relationship. The consumer is not a monolithic entity. Loving the existing product while buying the next available revision is not logically inconsistent, and in fact, you fail to recognize that some degree of product success is required in order for consumers to be willing to purchase the next version. If you think such behavior is unique to Apple, you've obviously ignored the Playstation, the Wii, and the XBox. They're standing in line because Apple has made a product that people love to use and love to be seen using. It does things that other phones don't do, and it generally does them well. Perfection isn't a prerequisite for a successful product.

They can't name competitors' products because as of the present time, there isn't one. There hasn't been one YET. You again fail to understand the nature of the product. The iPhone is more than just the handset itself, just like the iPod is not just the hardware device. It is the device + iTunes. Once you understand this, you will see that to date, there has not been any other product so tightly integrated on the market. Now, bear in mind I hope Android changes this. I sincerely do. But I really doubt it will ever look and feel as clean, because there is something unique about Apple's long-standing tradition of (obsessively) developing a product from the ground up. Remember, Google has to make a product that works with different hardware, different carriers, and different corporate tastes. In fact, these companies (Sony, Motorola, etc.) are even competing against each other! So do you really think that the result will be anywhere near as monolithic as what Apple has done?

In a way, it might be a good thing. Who knows? And that's my point. People are all excited about Android and making broad claims about the demise of Apple's business model for the iPhone, all over a product that has yet to cut its teeth in the marketplace. It's way, way, WAY too early to tell. Any claims about its ability to compete with a firmly established product as the iPhone is totally premature.

Re:You Have To Be Joking

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

Apple is facing a mass exodus of phone developers with their constant blunders from secrecy and rejecting apps that threaten their own apps.

Apple is facing a mass exodus of OSS zealots with their constant blunders from secrecy and rejecting apps that threaten their own apps.

There, fixed that for you.

Antitrust, regulations, Apple is full of shyt

[Toll_Free]

When are people going to start bitching about Apple providing an email application in their phone, and then locking others out (as was discussed here earlier).

This is > Microsoft Antitrust (think internet exploder), ESPECIALLY with all the people screaming iphone iphone iphone (think, market penetration).

Not intended as a troll, but I have to wonder, when Apple can INTENTIONALLY lock vendors out of providing applications for their phone (and Apple is the OS and hardware provider here, make no mistake about it, NOT AT&T), but Microsoft gets raked over the coals about bundling internet exploder?

What the fuck? Seriously, what the FUCK?

No IPhone or Apple fan (although I do have a Mac), just gotta wonder, WTF is Jobs thinking?

--Toll_Free

Re:Antitrust, regulations, Apple is full of shyt

[ProzacPatient]

Oh god, that is exactly what I was thinking!

Apple always manages to piss me off because, in my opinion anyway, they are worse then Microsoft when it comes to this type of thing, furthermore I don't understand how Apple can make one mistake after another and still have an angelic godly image that would otherwise instantly give Microsoft an assload of bad P.R.

I just don't understand people...

Re:Antitrust, regulations, Apple is full of shyt

[jamboarder]

While I'm no fan of this lockout, this is not antitrust related since the iPhone platform does not constitute a monopoly in the same, or similar, way that the Windows platform was declared to be. Sure the iPhone platform is the only way to develop for the iPhone. But the iPhone (platform + device) has nowhere near the market share of phones that Windows PCs (platform + hardware) did.

Apple's bundling is not nearly as prohibitive to competition as Microsoft's bundling was. You can develop apps for Symbian, Palm, Blackberry, Android and have a decent chance at competing in a significant share of the phone market. If the iPhone ever gets more than 80% mobile phone market share, then we can start making comparisons to Microsoft.

Re:Antitrust, regulations, Apple is full of shyt

[Microlith]

This is > Microsoft Antitrust (think internet exploder)

No it's not. Microsoft was ready to kill entire pc manufacturers over the IE/Netscape issue, and they more than had the power to do so.

No independent developer -has- to release on the iPhone.

Seriously, people HATE Apple for completely irrational reasons and back them up with poorly constructed arguments. At least the Microsoft hate has -legal backing- behind it.

Re:Antitrust, regulations, Apple is full of shyt

[Ilgaz]

I think Apple trusts to their fanatics and fans while doing such absurd things. Such people also has potential to lead them in wrong direction as we have seen in Amelio times.

They made Microsoft Windows Mobile look as "freedom" and people started to defend Symbian on all platforms. Usually Symbian users will buy the device, enhance it to a point that nobody will understand how their phone can boot and bitch about it on Web.

That is a real achievement.To repeat: Windows Mobile looks "open" with "freedom" compared to iPhone Unix/NeXT based OS.

Re:Antitrust, regulations, Apple is full of shyt

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple has about 3% of the phone market. Hardly a monopoly. So no "monopoly abuse". Secondly, MS was convicted of monopoly abuse because they DON'T make the hardware and were coercing HW manufacturers into bundling IE and not Netscape. Thus they were using a monopoly position in one market segment (the PC operating system market) to affect competition in another segment (the web browser market) in a way that was adverse to consumers.

If MS made their own PCs and wanted to put IE on them and not Netscape I'd be 100% for it but requiring others to do the same is not on. If Apple wants to make an iPhone and ruin it (in your opinion) by not allowing developers to do stuff, well it's their phone and they can do that.

Re:same ol, same ol

[SaDan]

Android.

A day late, a dollar short

[Anonymous Coward]

Screw Apple -- at every turn, they try and be the biggest dick the can get away with. Only after an uprising about this, cancelled books, etc, do they relent.

Plus, you still can't create better email clients and web browsers, so screw them.

Hopefully android will kick ass -- at least it's not hobbled by a bunch of beret-wearing douchebags.

The Joke Speaketh

[SuperKendall]

Apple is facing a mass exodus of phone developers with their constant blunders from secrecy and rejecting apps that threaten their own apps.

As an iPhone developer, I could only pray that would be true. Contrary to your assertion though there seems to be a pretty good inlflux of new developers, and thus new competition, into the iPhone application development realm. And of course, lifting the NDA means all of the most experienced developers can now offer help to everyone, further increasing developer interest and retention and shared knowledge (not that a lot of that was not happening already, but now that books can be published...).

The cellphone industry is rapidly moving to Android as their standard platform with Motorola being the latest large cellphone company to embrace Google's open source OS with a ramp up of their internal Android team to 500 people.

Awesome for Android (which I like and may also develop apps for at some point), sucks to be Windows Mobile. Not sure I see any impact on the iPhone though.

To suggest that there is some sort of secret and valuable information in the iPhone SDK that anyone cares about is absolutely inane.

To suggest that many best practices for advanced development techniques have been easy to find is far more inane. Yes you know there's a UITableViewController. Do you know how to make cells using Interface Builder? Or how to have a text view become first responder as you enter a screen?

This is just the first step in Apple's fade into niche irrelevance in the cellphone market.

Careful there, your spittle is starting to obscure your writing.

Just another funny Apple Hater I guess. Tired of having his normal user ID pummeled by reason...

Parent post should NOT be modded "troll"

[Apotsy]

The parent post is just saying what everyone secretly knows is true.

People are making massive amounts of money from the iPhone App Store. There is nothing else out there like it. Google doesn't even have their store up yet, and after their last attempt at something like that, it is not at all certain that they can actually make it work.

Not to mention the fact that Android hasn't so far turned out to be the open-source panacea that everyone thought it would be. You have to program in Java and don't have access to low-level hardware like bluetooth any more so than on the iPhone.

The cellphone industry isn't "rapidly" doing anything other than playing catch-up to Apple. So far they still have a long way to go.

Sorry, don't agree at all

[Shivetya]

Disclaimer, I have an iMac, a 20gb iPod (3rd gen), and now a Touch. I also am working with the SDK.

Apple is just as bad if not worse, their entire cover is "lack of market share" but if your in their market share your just screwed. I don't care, I want an alternative to Mail. Sorry but there are lots of features it does not have on the Touch UNLESS I buy ME. Sorry, but locking out competing applications is anti-competitive. Especially when they offer features they don't and only don't offer because they have paid products.

The problem really becomes annoying because when you get close to their "line" you don't know when it gets crossed. You post your app to iTunes and have to wait. If its a harmless app it gets in, if it comes close then your throwing dice.

Then we can toss out the fact they forbid their software on non-Apple provided machines. At least with IE if it didn't render a site for whatever reason I had alternatives, though during the time of contention Netscape 4.xx was out and it was such a suck product they couldn't help but lose.

No, they just mince words to pull off the same or worse than MS. Their saving grace is lack of market share and a clique mentality amongst some of their supporters. They make great software and hardware but are too draconian in its application.