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Apple Extends Non-Disclosure to App Store Rejection Letters

deviansp said:
I had a different thought, people are ticked at Apple on this thread because of the NDA and because Apple pulled this podcast app. Getting upset over the NDA is I think pointless. If one doesnt want to be bound by it, dont sign it. Otherwise what point does it make to argue over what one can legally talk about after signing. We dont have to like the rules but if we agree to them in signing, too bad.
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They shouldn't have the NDA. It hurts everyone. It hurts Apple, developers, consumers. An NDA is typically to protect from revealing unannounced products. The product (iPhone SDK) is out there already, its announced, its available. It serves no benefit other than to slow down developers who can't talk about what everyone knows. And Apple is severely abusing the intent of an NDA by using it as a club to keep people quiet about their draconian and random rejection policy.

Regarding the podcast app, it occured to me that if I had bought it and then found out later that iTunes does the same thing for free, I would be a little annoyed that I spent $10 or whatever, when I didnt have to. So maybe Apple is just trying to protect consumers after all?
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HAHAHAHAHA!!! LOL pretty funny. Do you actually believe this?

Why are you trying so hard to come up with a scenario where Apple is trying to protect consumers?
 
dmelgar said:
They shouldn't have the NDA. ... It serves no benefit
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Apple has had on the order of billions of dollars of IP stolen (look at some of the historical court case settlements and near misses). The NDA is extra legal ammunition in case anyone BIG tries to steal/copy UIKit. That's the benefit (to Apple and its shareholders).

They haven't (yet?) given the slightest hint of trying to shush any of the little guys asking iPhone question on the public Apple developer support forums.
 
Diaresi said:
It's just so they can announce they'll be getting rid of the NDA at a Keynote and get cheers for it.

"There will be no more NDA"
*People go nuts*
"We'll also be providing exact guidelines for Apps to meet approval"
*People go nuts*

*Everyone in the rooms wants to tell Steve Jobs they love him*

I really felt ashamed of being an Apple fan when they all cheered at Steve Jobs for demonstrating texting multiple people on an iPhone at a keynote... welcome to several years ago!
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That about sums up my feelings as well, its a pity we look like such fools nowadays. Products and features are "pretty" but... thats about it. We are heading down the path of Microsoft while Microsoft trying to head back down to this everyday user status.
 
Awesome

whooleytoo said:
"Hi, I'm an Android"

"And I'm an iPhone. NDA!"

"..You feeling ok iPhone?"

"Oh, I'm NDA! I'm NDA to NDA at the NDA"

"Sorry?"

"NDA has the NDA on the NDA with the NDA!"

"Wow... on Android you're free to develop what you like, share knowledge with other Android users and developers, and talk about what you like."

"NDA you!"

"Gesundheit.."
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Just had to repost this because it's freakin awesome! LoL!
 
JayBee said:
However, if Apple makes all its developers unhappy, then there are no more killer apps on the phone.
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Are there such killer apps from 3rd party developers now? Such app that significant amount of customers buy iphone to be able to run this app on it, not because iphone is cool? Does Apple want such applications exist at all?
 
newb16 said:
Are there such killer apps from 3rd party developers now? Such app that significant amount of customers buy iphone to be able to run this app on it, not because iphone is cool? Does Apple want such applications exist at all?
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My physician specifically bought the iPhone in order to carry medical references with him. So yes, there's at least one person on this planet that bought the iPhone for a piece of software they knew would be released for it.
 
I didn't buy the iPhone for any specific app, but if it didn't have 3rd party apps I wouldn't have bought it.

As time goes by, I think the power will swing and Apple will need the developers more and more.
 
whooleytoo said:
I didn't buy the iPhone for any specific app, but if it didn't have 3rd party apps I wouldn't have bought it.
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I'll second this. Apps are the only reason why I considered buying an iPhone. That iPhone purchase then caused me to purchase a Mac mini (my first Mac ever) so that I could develop some apps of my own. So, Apple has close to $1000 of my money because of apps.

All of this NDA crap makes me appreciate Palm's developer program, at least back when I was looking into it. No NDA (that I recall), no approval process, and you could sell your apps anywhere.
 
The obvious solution is for developers to get together and start an alternative appstore: that would remove Apple's control over the situation.
 
Denarius said:
The obvious solution is for developers to get together and start an alternative appstore: that would remove Apple's control over the situation.
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But that would require jailbreaking the phones and loading some kind of app loader software onto them before people could even hope to open such a store. How man are willing to jailbreak their phones? Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple sued (ala Psystar) the 'alternative' app store somehow using some kind of warped corporation orientated logic. They only tolerate hackintoshes and jailbroken phones because they represent a tiny minority of Mac and iPhone users and no one is making any money from it. If they see large numbers of consumers defecting and/or someone making a few bucks, they get out the lawyers and go sue happy.

While I may prefer OS X to Windows, I'm VERY sad to say that I find Apple just as disgusting a company as Microsoft. I was really hoping to ditch Windows altogether because I've despised Bill Gates and his company for years (former Amiga user should say it all), but I've found no friend in Apple either, just a somewhat better operating system. Even then, I still need a Windows machine (Intel Macs lack suitable GPUs) to play computer games. So, I can't really get rid of either. The Linux philosophy is great; the problem is a lack of software and a lack of standardization (one tends to help prevent the other too). Linux is still a bit rough around the edges compared to Windows, let alone the Mac in terms of ease of use and getting things done quickly. So frankly, the consumer loses all around to some degree. So much for the theory of competition making everything better. I guess like Wall Street, some consumer orientated federal regulations might be more beneficial to stop corporate anti-consumer behaviors.
 
sbostedor said:
They did. It's called Cydia.
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The bummer about Cydia and any other 3rd party installer is that, by decree of Apple, a developer may not charge for an app that doesn't come from the app store. To be legal, all the developer can do is ask for donations. So Apple manages to **** developers either way they decide to go. At this point, neither the app store nor Cydia/Installer are worth a damn if you plan on putting food on the table with the income.

And to answer if Apple really wants any killer apps on the phone, I'd have to say that it depends. Apple didn't want apps on the iPhone that didn't come from Apple, period. But the public kept yelling and now it allows them. Of course, you have to pay to really get anywhere, the certificate hoops are so convoluted as to be laughable and now Apple has taken to declining apps seemingly at random for totally bull**** reasons. So I'd say if you're a big, fat software house, yes, Apple wants your apps. Otherwise, don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.

Which brings up my other concern. Apple has declined apps because they duplicate functionality in existing Apple apps. How long do think it will be before they extend that to other programs written by big software houses who can afford to make trouble for Apple if they don't extend that "courtesy"? Say, for example, I release a word processor via the app store. Then a few months from now some big company releases one and, even if inferior to mine and months late, they tell Apple to lose mine or else. Do you really think Apple would say no? Personally, I wouldn't put anything past them at this point.

Per all the talk about Apple becoming "the new Microsoft", I never once had to think twice about whether or not Microsoft was going to **** me with a iron rod while writing a Windows Mobile app. So Apple has sunk far lower than where Microsoft was 5 years ago. On a lot of levels. I think there's a much better chance I'm going to demand back the money I flushed down Apple's dev program than ever get an app released via the store. Which reminds me, is it working correctly yet or is it still stuck at Sept 15? Morons.
 
dmelgar said:
They shouldn't have the NDA. It hurts everyone. It hurts Apple, developers, consumers. An NDA is typically to protect from revealing unannounced products. The product (iPhone SDK) is out there already, its announced, its available. It serves no benefit other than to slow down developers who can't talk about what everyone knows. And Apple is severely abusing the intent of an NDA by using it as a club to keep people quiet about their draconian and random rejection policy.


HAHAHAHAHA!!! LOL pretty funny. Do you actually believe this?

Why are you trying so hard to come up with a scenario where Apple is trying to protect consumers?
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Jeez dude its just a thought. Why are YOU trying so hard to paint Apple as evil people who dont give a crap about anyone??? And no its not hard to believe something like that, as a member of a large corporation that deals with other large corporations. Somewhere along the path we all realized that we get our revenue from consumers so from time to time we actually do look out for them. As a bunch of kids throwing hate around I guess I shouldn't have expected anyone in here to try to see anything from Apples point of view. Instead they are evil and noone is trying to see any kind of logic behind their decision. Fine please dont bother quoting me anymore. Im getting away from you losers.
 
deviansp said:
Jeez dude its just a thought. Why are YOU trying so hard to paint Apple as evil people who dont give a crap about anyone???
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That's kind of true of all corporations, more or less, IMO because they're market driven, forced to try and maximize profits. It's why Wall Street is screwed up right now and why all the jobs have been excessed to places like China. There's no compassion, just endless GREED.
 
Perhaps I'm slow to the game, but it seems that Apple just dropped the NDA agreement as of today.
 
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