Apple Opens App Store to Third-Party Development Tools, Publishes Review Guidelines

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced that it is making several changes to its App Store developer policies and procedures, with one of the most significant changes being an easing of its earlier move to ban third-party compilers such as Adobe's Flash-to-iPhone compiler it had built into Flash Professional CS5. Under the new policies, such third-party tools will be permitted as long as the apps generated by them do not download any code.

We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.

In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.

Apple has been the target of scrutiny by several regulatory agencies for its exclusionary policies.

In addition, Apple is also publishing its App Store Review Guidelines in order to provide developers with more transparency about the review process. Apple has been criticized for its closed process that has been seemingly arbitrary and inconsistent at times. While there will almost certainly continue to be some inconsistencies as long as humans are involved in the review process, publication of the review guidelines should make it easier for all parties to be on the same page from the outset of the app creation and review processes.

Article Link: Apple Opens App Store to Third-Party Development Tools, Publishes Review Guidelines

 

[brettgo1]

That was from out of nowhere. Pretty cool I guess

 

[Full of Win]

Apple usually does not admit defeat....but here we are.

 

[NebulaClash]

NO, NO, NO, you can't publish facts like this! The current propaganda is that Apple is evil and closed! They are worse than all other companies. They are awful. Steve is evil!

OK, now back to reality world where we see that once again the facts do not match the propaganda being pushed by Apple's competitors.

 

[Ambrose Chapel]

This looks like really good news. Hopefully the devs will really benefit!

 

[jeznav]

Flash apps on the iPhone?

 

[adrian.oconnor]

This is awesome news! Hopefully we'll get a link to those guidelines soon (or am I just being blind? -- I can't see it).

Got this message from the developer of Briefs on Twitter, who was screwed over by the review process more than anybody.

 

[solarthecat]

OMG - this i am ecstatic about.

I might finally get to make an iPhone app of my own without have to learn 'C'

YIPPEE :

 

[fishmoose]

I want to know what apps are made using Flash because I have no intention of ever downloading them.

 

[solarthecat]

I want to know what apps are made using Flash because I have no intention of ever downloading them.

dont be a sourpuss

I have some great App ideas... LOL

 

[iDarbert]

I want to know what apps are made using Flash because I have no intention of ever downloading them.

It should be easy to recognize them because they will probably won't use any standard iPhone UI widgets.

I expect 80% of them to be games, which is OK I guess.

 

[MadGoat]

If there was only some wording in there that would still ban flash, I would be all giddy.

Flash needs to die

 

[blackcrayon]

This is awesome news! Hopefully we'll get a link to those guidelines soon (or am I just being blind? -- I can't see it).

Got this message from the developer of Briefs on Twitter, who was screwed over by the review process more than anybody.

There's a link off of developer.apple.com , but it doesn't seem to be working for me at the moment...

 

[solarthecat]

It should be easy to recognize them because they will probably won't use any standard iPhone UI widgets.

I expect 80% of them to be games, which is OK I guess.

No, i was thinking more 'Cat' related Apps. LOL
All the bells and whistles...and mice

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Flash runs like crap on my Mac and everything made using Flash is ugly. Flash developers have no taste I want good looking apps on my phone. Guess you'll caught them by the ugly logos.

Get a better computer. And how could you know everything made using Flash is ugly when your shoddy computer can't run it properly?

 

[labman]

I want to know what apps are made using Flash because I have no intention of ever downloading them.

I'm sure it would say Flash required & I'm am sure Apple would still require that!

 

[GoodWatch]

NO, NO, NO, you can't publish facts like this! The current propaganda is that Apple is evil and closed! They are worse than all other companies. They are awful. Steve is evil!

OK, now back to reality world where we see that once again the facts do not match the propaganda being pushed by Apple's competitors.

What exactly are you trying to convey?

 

[adrian.oconnor]

I want to know what apps are made using Flash because I have no intention of ever downloading them.

I'm guessing they'll be all the ones where you fling a little animal from one side of the screen and smash in to a target/bricks/other animals on the other side (well, all those that aren't called Angry Birds anyway).

Viva la revolution.

 

[solarthecat]

I'm guessing they'll be all the ones where you fling a little animal from one side of the screen and smash in to a target/bricks/other animals on the other side (well, all those that aren't called Angry Birds anyway).

Viva la revolution.

Damn. There goes my idea.... Angry Cats.

 

[adrian.oconnor]

What exactly are you trying to convey?

My guess is that he's sarcastically poking at people who complain about Apple as if they were some evil entity that want nothing less than your soul and can do no right.

As it happens, I just don't know why so many people get so impassioned about loving/hating tech companies. It's the strangest thing to get worked up about (and people really do get worked up -- go check the comments on Engadget, TechCrunch, here)

 

[knightlie]

NO, NO, NO, you can't publish facts like this! The current propaganda is that Apple is evil and closed! They are worse than all other companies. They are awful. Steve is evil!

OK, now back to reality world where we see that once again the facts do not match the propaganda being pushed by Apple's competitors.

To be fair, all that "propaganda" has been accurate up until this point. Apple has just become more transparent, they were not this transparent all along, which is what you seem to be implying.

What I want is a way to install apps on my device without using the App Store or paying $99.

 

[adrian.oconnor]

Damn. There goes my idea.... Angry Cats.

Do it anyway. I'm going to create... Angry Monkeys.

 

[fishmoose]

Get a better computer. And how could you know everything made using Flash is ugly when your shoddy computer can't run it properly?

Or Adobe could learn to code, what a novel concept. Can you point me to a website showing of something designed in Flash that looks good?

 

[mixel]

... Well! This is an unexpected development!

I'm imagining the huge collective sigh of relief from the Unity, GameSalad, etc communities! Great news..

Waiting to see Adobe's response to this.

 

[PeterQVenkman]

An end to some of the vague guidelines. Bravo!