iPhone Developer Agreement Revealed by Electronic Frontier Foundation

MacRumors · Mar 9, 2010

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) yesterday announced that it had obtained a copy of Apple's iPhone Developer Program License Agreement and published it for public consumption. While the contents of the license agreement, which governs the relationship between Apple and App Store developers, should obviously not be a surprise to the many developers already participating in the program, details of the contract have until now been kept relatively shielded from the general public due to nondisclosure agreements associated with the contracts.

The EFF was able to work around this constraint by petitioning NASA, a U.S. government agency and developer of an official NASA iPhone application, under a Freedom of Information Act request. NASA responded with a copy of the 28-page March 2009 version of the agreement.

Overall, the Agreement is a very one-sided contract, favoring Apple at every turn. That's not unusual where end-user license agreements are concerned (and not all the terms may ultimately be enforceable), but it's a bit of a surprise as applied to the more than 100,000 developers for the iPhone, including many large public companies. How can Apple get away with it? Because it is the sole gateway to the more than 40 million iPhones that have been sold. In other words, it's only because Apple still "owns" the customer, long after each iPhone (and soon, iPad) is sold, that it is able to push these contractual terms on the entire universe of software developers for the platform.

The terms of the agreement are not particularly different from those discussed in many places since the iPhone developer program was initiated, but it is interesting to view the actual text of the agreement, and the EFF points to a couple of interesting terms included in it.

- Developers are prohibited from making any "public statements" about the terms of the developer agreement, which is obviously the driving factor that has kept the complete details out of publication for so long.

- Developers using the iPhone SDK may only distribute their applications via Apple's App Store. Use of any other competing App Store for the iPhone platform for distribution is forbidden, even if an application has been rejected from the App Store.

- Reverse engineering of the iPhone OS or SDK is not permitted, and developers are not permitted to "disable, hack, or otherwise interfere" with security provisions on any Apple technology, such as jailbreaking their iPhones.

- Apple's monetary liability to developers is limited to only $50.

The EFF is a donor-funded non-profit organization focused on digital rights, and has been critical of Apple in the past over some of the company's actions. The foundation has even gone so far as to offer legal defense to several sites sued by Apple over leaked product details.

Article Link: iPhone Developer Agreement Revealed by Electronic Frontier Foundation

Daremo · Mar 9, 2010

Cracking down...

WPB2 · Mar 9, 2010

Wow!!! thats rough. No jailbreaking

SPUY767 · Mar 9, 2010

Apple can control its devices however it wants. If the people have a problem with the way Apple does business, they would speak with their wallets. Apparently, they do not have a problem.

*LTD* · Mar 9, 2010

Enough baloney to make a sandwich

The EFF is barking up the wrong tree on this one.

The "open" alternatives to the iPhone aren't panning out, so Apple's closed model is vilified. Too funny.

Yet virtually every developer and their dog seems to be choosing Apple's "closed" and "controlled" model. Interesting.

Besides, each and every one of those "over 100,000 developers," agreed to Apple's terms. Most of them gladly, in fact. Any developer who doesn't like the terms of Apple's agreement can certainly choose to disagree and not make apps for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Nermal · Mar 9, 2010

SPUY767 said:
Apple can control its devices however it wants.

Indeed. But Apple also tries to control my own device that I've paid for. I don't agree with that. I bought my Touch after Apple announced that there would be an SDK, but before the announcement that everything would be locked down. I have no intention of buying another such device until I can run what I want on it.

ItsGavinC · Mar 9, 2010

The EFF can stick it. Who cares? As was posted, Apple can come up with any agreement they want with developers. Nobody is being forced into the developer program. Hilarious that this is even a news item.

The app store has been amazing for developers. My brother, has nearly 30 apps in the store and is making GOOD money that he has never seen before. He was not a developer prior to developing for the iPhone.

ptsube · Mar 9, 2010

*LTD* said:
The EFF is barking up the wrong tree on this one.

The "open" alternatives to the iPhone aren't panning out, so Apple's closed model is vilified. Too funny.

Yet virtually every developer and their dog seems to be choosing Apple's "closed" and "controlled" model. Interesting.

Besides, each and every one of those "over 100,000 developers," agreed to Apple's terms. Most of them gladly, in fact. Any developer who doesn't like the terms of Apple's agreement can certainly choose to disagree and not make apps for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Are you just going from site to site posting the same thing?

*LTD* · Mar 9, 2010

ItsGavinC said:
The EFF can stick it. Who cares? As was posted, Apple can come up with any agreement they want with developers. Nobody is being forced into the developer program. Hilarious that this is even a news item.

The app store has been amazing for developers. My brother, has nearly 30 apps in the store and is making GOOD money that he has never seen before. He was not a developer prior to developing for the iPhone.

The EFf is just another special interest group among other special interest groups. There are some real crazy ones out there.

SPUY767 · Mar 9, 2010

Nermal said:
Indeed. But Apple also tries to control my own device that I've paid for. I don't agree with that. I bought my Touch after Apple announced that there would be an SDK, but before the announcement that everything would be locked down. I have no intention of buying another such device until I can run what I want on it.

That's you voting with your wallet. The system at work.

exigentsky · Mar 9, 2010

SPUY767 said:
Apple can control its devices however it wants. If the people have a problem with the way Apple does business, they would speak with their wallets. Apparently, they do not have a problem.

Actually, people didn't know about how draconian it was until now and it's clear that Apple tried to keep this quiet by putting the gag clause. However, even if people knew, most are too lazy and weak to put moral principles ahead of comfort. As it stands, Apple owns you and it owns the developers. Once you buy it or try to develop for it, you have no rights and no alternatives. They control absolutely everything. This shouldn't be acceptable to anyone with some self-respect and desire for freedom.

*LTD* · Mar 9, 2010

ptsube said:
Are you just going from site to site posting the same thing?

Um . . . I happen to be having the same conversation on both here and AppleInsider. The responses to my posts, however, will dictate in which direction each one goes, which might be completely different.

Consultant · Mar 9, 2010

I thought this has already been reported last year?

Enuratique · Mar 9, 2010

Paging Winni to the thread...

Winni, your bemoaning of Apple's policies are needed immediately...

joseph2166 · Mar 9, 2010

Nermal said:
Indeed. But Apple also tries to control my own device that I've paid for. I don't agree with that. I bought my Touch after Apple announced that there would be an SDK, but before the announcement that everything would be locked down. I have no intention of buying another such device until I can run what I want on it.

Sorry, but what did you expect? It took Apple quite a while to admit the need for 3rd party apps in the first place, did you really think they'd suddenly throw the door open to every app that tried to get in? Apple never made an announcement that everything would be locked down - it was merely assumed that it wouldn't be a free-for-all, in the same way that it was always assumed that old iPod games would always be select (more so than iPhone apps of course).

*LTD* · Mar 9, 2010

Consultant said:
I thought this has already been reported last year?

It's much of the same baloney rehashed again. No organization with any real teeth cares about the issue. The EFF has been fighting Apple without much success for a while now.

ChazUK · Mar 9, 2010

Developers sign up to the thing so it must be working for them....

*LTD* · Mar 9, 2010

exigentsky said:
Actually, people didn't know about how draconian it was until now and it's clear that Apple tried to keep this quiet by putting the gag clause. However, even if people knew, most are too lazy and weak to put moral principles ahead of comfort. As it stands, Apple owns you and it owns the developers. Once you buy it or try to develop for it, you have no rights and no alternatives. They control absolutely everything. This shouldn't be acceptable to anyone with some self-respect and desire for freedom.

Except developers are signing up to it in droves. It's where the money is, and where developers want to be, and they're more than happy to stay.

So much for your personal definition of "self-respect and desire for freedom" - whatever the hell THAT'S supposed to mean in this context.

chriszzz · Mar 9, 2010

*LTD* said:
The "open" alternatives to the iPhone aren't panning out, so Apple's closed model is vilified. Too funny.

Android isn't "panning out"?

russellb · Mar 9, 2010

You have PLENTY of freedom

exigentsky said:
Actually, people didn't know about just how draconian it was until now and it's clear that Apple tried to keep this quiet by putting the gag clause. However, even if people knew, most are too lazy and weak to put moral principles ahead of other wishes. As it stands, Apple owns you and it owns the developers. Once you buy it or try to develop for it, you have no rights and no alternatives. They control absolutely everything. This shouldn't be acceptable to anyone with some self-respect and desire for freedom.

You have plenty of freedom. Go use or develop for, a Windowzzz device, a palm device, an android device.

Oh wait people dont want to they love the Iphone , they FREELY choose the platform.

It always makes me laugh .. there are plenty of other MP3 devices out there, there will be plenty of other Tablets out there etc etc BUT just because people choose Apple then we get the idiots that seem to think that they have a right to then tell Apple how they should run their business or their platform. Gee I think Apple has it worked out how they can create and run a successful ecosystem.

Is it perfect hell no, does Apple sometimes do things we wish they would not hell yes BUT at the end of the day if you dont like it then vote with your feet and wallets ...

BUT dont cry that you want to use Apples devices

notjustjay · Mar 9, 2010

This sounds like a non-story to me. Those terms sound perfectly reasonable given the context. Essentially "don't hack the system" and "don't badmouth Apple".

Kabeyun · Mar 9, 2010

Brilliant

I must hand it to the EFF. Finding an app developed by a government agency and then leveraging the Freedon of Information Act to curcumvent the NDI is damn clever, like them or not.

GeekLawyer · Mar 9, 2010

Apple is a benevolent pimp. And the devs are working their corners. The johns are happy. The money keeps rolling in.

Capitalism is a beautiful thing.

joseph2166 · Mar 9, 2010

exigentsky said:
Actually, people didn't know about how draconian it was until now and it's clear that Apple tried to keep this quiet by putting the gag clause. However, even if people knew, most are too lazy and weak to put moral principles ahead of comfort. As it stands, Apple owns you and it owns the developers. Once you buy it or try to develop for it, you have no rights and no alternatives. They control absolutely everything. This shouldn't be acceptable to anyone with some self-respect and desire for freedom.

Just out of interest, what model would you prefer? Only thing I can think of is the desktop computer model - no central repository of apps, so its up to users to search out what they want online. I think its quite easy to argue that without the app store lots of apps, and therefore lots of developers wouldn't have got half the exposure they have had. We can of course always expect more from Apple (or any other big company) in how transparent they and their decisions are.

Cromulent · Mar 9, 2010

exigentsky said:
This shouldn't be acceptable to anyone with some self-respect and desire for freedom.

So what are you doing on an Apple forum then? I would have thought you had moved to Microsoft by now? Oh wait, what's that? Microsoft do exactly the same thing? Well I'll be damned I would never have guessed. Maybe you should try Linux? Oh wait, what's that? A critical application you need doesn't work on Linux? Maybe you should try AIX or HP-UX instead? Oh wait...

Need I say more?

iPhone Developer Agreement Revealed by Electronic Frontier Foundation

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