iPhone developers are chafing after a series of moves that put into question Apple’s commitment to third-party applications sold on its App Store.
The latest problem is a letter sent to publishers whose applications were rejected, emphasizing that all communications are subject to a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). According to MacRumors, Apple recently added this line to its rejection notes, in all caps: “THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE.”
The agreement developers approved when they downloaded Apple’s iPhone software development kit appears to say as much. “You agree not to disclose, publish, or disseminate Confidential Information to anyone other than those of your employees and contractors with a demonstrable need to know who have binding, written, confidentiality obligations to you that protect such Confidential Information against unauthorized disclosure,” the agreement says.
The current rejection letter defines its contents as confidential information and thus within the NDA.
Pragmatic Programmers, which had delayed release of an iPhone programming book in expectation that the NDA would be removed when the iPhone 2.0 software was released, announced it was pulling the book from production. “The September announcement came and went, and still the NDA remains in place. It now appears that Apple does not intend to lift the NDA any time soon,” the publisher said.
This development occurs against a backdrop of recent actions that some developers consider an abuse of trust. Writing in Macworld, Jason Snell said, “When it comes to the entire machinery of the App Store, something is terribly wrong.” If Apple continues with arbitrary rejections of applications, “what’s happening right now may seriously weaken the iPhone as a platform and enable Apple’s competitors to get the upper hand when it comes to dominating the smartphone market,” Snell wrote.
Among Apple’s moves that have offended developers: