Apple Drops N.D.A. for iPhone Apps

Andrea Chalupa writes: Maybe it's the beating Apple's stock has been taking as of late, or the heat the company is feeling from Google's Android, but today Apple lifted its controversial veil of secrecy over the iPhone and exposed it to open source.

Apple announced today that it will drop the non-disclosure agreement developers of iPhone applications have been working under.

Apple's N.D.A. caused an outcry from developers and the tech community who saw it as poisonous to the long-term success and evolution of the iPhone.

Some of the terms of the N.D.A. included:

"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. You further agree to take reasonable precautions to prevent any unauthorized use, disclosure, publication, or dissemination of Confidential Information."

Dan Frommer, writing for Silicon Valley Insider, called for an end to the N.D.A. back in July, two weeks before the launch of the second generation iPhone. He warned that such strict confidentiality makes sense when a product is in beta but can backfire if it sticks around too long.

"If the iPhone platform is going to be a long-term success, it's going to involve not just software companies with a lot of resources, but thousands of garage coders whipping up inventive stuff. And Apple needs to keep them happy, not tick them off."

In its statement, Apple thanked "everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter." They must be reading the chat-rooms.

Already a big victorious sigh of relief can be heard online. Craig Hockenberry, developer of Twitterrific, posted some ideas and code for a "Post to Twitter" function for the iPhone on his site.

Apple provided reasons for being overly cautious: "We put the N.D.A. 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 N.D.A. 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."

In contrast, Dan Morrill, a lead developer of Android, told APCMag, as reported in Wired.com, "What we'd like to see is a platform that's open from end to end to allow all of these innovations that are kind of scattered across various carriers and various hardware manufacturers and various phone operating systems to kind of allow them to come together in a perfect storm of innovation on a mobile device."

But Apple still isn't going to be totally hands off. The company does provide a list of rules and guidelines for would-be iPhone software developers. But if you want to tinker with the iPhone, Apple will try to get you to shell out $99 or $299 to join the iPhones Developer Program. And there's no pre-approval of concepts for new applications, leading some rejected developers to get up in arms over time and money wasted. Apple's battle with developers are far from over.