Comments on: Apple Lifts iPhone Developer Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

By: Dudehuge

Dudehuge — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:15:08 +0000

great news for devs

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:29:20 +0000

Small typo at the end… old = hold

By: Jordi Bares

Jordi Bares — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:04:17 +0000

This is probably the very key push to the community so it grows in a healthy manner. Can't wait to see the books on the stores.

Thanks

By: Tulse

Tulse — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:08:04 +0000

Podzoe, the "unreleased" software covered is Apple software, not a developer's. In other words, developers can talk about the currently released SDK, but not about any unreleased version of the SDK that they may have access to.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:06:39 +0000

@Podzoe I think you have misunderstood. They mean release versions of the iPhone software. Developers can (and always have) discuss their pre-release apps. They can now talk openly about programming iPhone in the way you describe.

What they presumably *can't* do is discuss programming features of iPhone that have not been released. For instance, a new API in iPhone OS 2.2.

As a developer, I think this is reasonable. It's worth bearing in mind that features change or are removed entirely prior to a software release. I wouldn't want to write a book with inaccuracies, or ship an app which was dependent on deprecated code…

By: Podzoe

Podzoe — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:52:14 +0000

To me this seems like they are just trying to look good without having to lose anything. The NDA doesn't cover 'released' software anymore. So, I release a new App, and I can now talk about it. Woot! I unfortunately still can't talk about anything during its development, nor anything about the tools, nor anything about whether a bug is in my code or Apple's code or how to do something.

By: Capone

Capone — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:25:02 +0000

@Skip:

Yeah, I think the same. Until now only few tutorials could be found on the internet. Also a few books on iPhone-SDK programming are ready for release, but can only be pre-ordered at the moment (due to the NDA). Maybe that changes now.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:08:55 +0000

The best thing for iPhone users would be some REAL competition from android. Some awesome phone designs, some apps that apple won't approve, things like that. Force apple's hand!

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:26:02 +0000

This is great news. Apple are slowly but surely delivering the iPhone platform we all want. Are you listening Apple? We want more! We want:

* A crystal-clear, published definition of the acceptance critera for the App store

* A pre-approval process so that developers can submit a proposal to Apple and be told whether their app will be accepted on principle

* Apple to quit refusing apps that compete with their functionality. I understand NetShare would have violated their carrier agreements, but PodCaster and MailWrangler should be accepted. Unless of course Apple want to be the subject of an anti-trust suit…

* Apple to stop acting as judges of usefulness. If I want to waste my money on some useless junk (there's plenty that *did* get accepted) that's my prerogative

* Apple to stop acting as judges of good taste. I'm over 18 and if I want to play a strip poker game (which I don't) or a mobile Grand Theft Auto (which I don't) then I should be able to. You already have an age verification mechanism in the store – implement it for apps and get out of the way

* Reviews should be bound to an app version. Developers must be sick and tired of reading reviews whining about bugs that are fixed, or the lack of features that have been added

* There should be an Apple representative similar to Adobe's John Nack, blogging and responding to the community. This point may be too much to hope for…

By: Skip

Skip — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:25:57 +0000

Helpful to people like me who are way better designers than programmers. I look forward to the inevitable iPhone development books and help websites…