Unofficial iPhone Blog

Apple has lifted strict rules governing its iPhone NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) policy yesterday relenting on its traditionally tight code of silence surrounding product development. IPhone developers rejoiced at the lifted restriction seeing Apple’s NDA requirement as silly - if not a hindrance.

Apple explained its decision stating: “The NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success.”

Is Apple feeling Google on its tail?

With Google’s launch of its Android powered mobile phone, T-Mobile’s G1, Apple may have to try harder to keep iPhone developers happy or risk seeing them switch allegiance to the Google Android platform development community. Google offers through Android an open-source mobile operating system and allows developers to freely develop, distribute and collaborate on applications they code.

Before yesterday, an iPhone developer had to agree not to talk about Apple’s development kit or the work they did with it before they could be able to download iPhone’s SDK. Thousands of programmers were affected by this policy.They were not able to talk to the press, or write in trade journals. Not even among themselves - and this was a major barrier for them to progress faster and share programming techniques or collaborate with other developers.

Apple had maintained the NDA was in place to help maintain Apple’s competitive edge by keeping mobile rivals in the dark about application development and Apple’s iPhone app approval process.

What’s to come then?

Free collaboration and discussion among developers can only lead to great things for the iPhone. We are most likely to have higher quality software, more documentation and more competition, all in the the benefit of us, the consumers. And before you know it, we will actually be able to leave reviews in the already crowded AppStore, so that we know what we are buying and what others thought about it.

But don’t worry, the happier we are about it, the happier is Apple about us buying more apps for the iPhone, and more publicity can only lead to more iPhone sales. But isn’t this how the world goes round?

Apple has decided to end the nondisclosure agreement attached to software that has already been released for the iPhone, in the latest sign that it is starting to take developer concerns to heart.

The company put up a notice on the main Apple developer Web page that, effective immediately, says developers are released from the NDA regarding iPhone software that has already been released. The “Fing NDA” was one of the most frustrating aspects of iPhone development in its first three official months, forbidding developers from discussing their software and throwing into legal limbo the status of programs such as iPhone development classes.

Apple’s explanation for dropping the NDA follows:

• 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.

Apple has made subtle tweaks to the App Store this week in response to developer concerns, but this is by far the most sweeping change it has made to placate developers, who continue to flood the App Store with iPhone applications. The greatest source of frustration–the nebulous guidelines for what is permitted in the App Store, and what isn’t–remains unaddressed as of this moment, but perhaps Apple’s decision to drop the NDA means it has realized the extent of developer angst.

The launch of an open-source developer-friendly mobile operating system just last week probably didn’t hurt.