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Apple extends iPhone NDA, rejects Gmail app

updated 05:00 pm EDT, Tue September 23, 2008

Apple extends iPhone NDA

Apple is looking to keep developers quiet on the subject of App Store rejections, according to claims. Reports say that Apple is now adding more labeling to rejection letters, appending them with the clause that "the information contained in this message is under non-disclosure." While discussion of details in iPhone development is generally restricted, numerous developers have complained publicly about rejections without repercussion.

The most recent of these is Angelo DiNardi, who says his MailWrangler app was rejected in late August. The app lets users quickly switch between multiple Gmail accounts without having to log in and out of each one. Apple refused to host the app, however, saying it "duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality," and that it could cause confusion. This mirrors reasons given for the blocking of Podcaster, which was said to mimic iTunes too closely.

Developers have in some cases accused Apple's SDK terms of being overly restrictive, preventing evolution in the coding community by blocking idea exchanges normally taken for granted. To circumvent the problem, a few developers have been paying each other token amounts to qualify as "sub-contractors."

by MacNN Staff

(38)

TAGS :

iPhone, developer, SDK, App Store, Apple

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MyRightEye
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2008

-1

09/23, 05:07pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
OK, s**** this fascist cr

ap.

Let the free market decide. This is total BS.

Aullz
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2008

+12

09/23, 05:12pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
The free market

is called another phone!

Comment buried. Show

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

-18

09/23, 05:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
seriously

I am starting to move AWAY from the apple platform. God damn control freaks, apple is dehumanizing the very value that got apple started in the first place, COLLABORATION! If I could punch apple where is hurts, I would. They are acting like the government. Can't wait to bring out my OS and then they will be kissing my a** to by out my organization. And I will have a big finger for them to sit on!

If apple is about protecting there interested, not about the people.... guess there is room for a bite of marketshare haha!

jameshays
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2003

+8

09/23, 05:31pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Android

If you don't like Apple's rules, develop for Android, or Mobile Windows. You have plenty of options.

hansmickle
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2003

+4

09/23, 06:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
This is nonsense

Paranoia at its height!

Flying Meat
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2007

+2

09/23, 06:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
Fascists

I am a long time Apple user and promote their use when I can, but this kind of non-disclosure c*** is totally uncalled for, and starts to make me wonder if I should continue to support them.

This does wreak of DHS bull that says you have no recourse. C'mon Apple. You are better than this.

Perhaps we need to arrange for developer free speech zones? Perhaps the iPhone development community could get together and pull their apps for a few weeks.

dliup
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

+3

09/23, 06:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
-1 Apple

Although I understand that the current app store is more of an "exclusive club", instead of jack of all trades, master of none, I wish there is a medium that will work.

If Apple makes sure that the app isn't malicious, market will work out what people like.

ender
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 1999

+6

09/23, 06:25pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Binding?

I'm not a lawyer, but is a statement like that binding? Wouldn't they need to get a signed NDA from the recipient of the letter and THEN send them the letter? Sending the letter and then saying, "oh by the way, this letter has an NDA clause so you can't tell anyone else about it." That's like sending a letter that says, "By reading this letter, you agree to send me $500 in cash." And then claiming that we have a contract and you owe me $500.

Is the iPhone developer NDA agreement so broad and vague so as to apply to all communication that Apple might send you? That's absurd!

dogzilla
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Sep 1999

+7

09/23, 06:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
Lame

Wow - this is incredibly lame. Seems to me that Apple is being incredibly capricious with this.

As far as devs boycotting the apple store - not likely, given the recent coverage of the Trism developer netting $250k in a few months. The only viable boycott would come from users, but I suspect that the overwhelming majority of App Store customers have no idea what an NDA is and wouldn't care if you told them.

doctorwinters
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2008

+2

09/23, 06:28pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
scary

I would have said Google and the Android thing had no chance against the iPhone, but this is the type of thing that could backfire and get a lot of people switching to the "non-fascist" alternative

jonboy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2008

+6

09/23, 06:33pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Down Hill

I'm a very long time mac user and software developer and after a brush with developing for the iPhone I can honestly say it really is the most annoying process. I have always had trouble logging into the dev site and accessing resources that I've paid for and after four emails to Apple complaining I not had one reply. Way to go Apple. Spend months developing something only to be told "sorry you can't sell this". Way to go Apple. I'm steering well clear.

vasic
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2005

-1

09/23, 07:18pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Whiners (sorry)

Vast majority of developers for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform seem to be delighted and thrilled with the development tools, the process, and Apple as a company. Obviously, when the numbers are big, there will be small minority who will complain.

When you become a developer and sign that agreement for the AppStore, you automatically sign that NDA. From that point on, everything that Apple deems as non-disclosable will be under that NDA, including the content of that rejection letter they send you.

With the exception of the "I'm Rich" and "f***" applications, all others have clearly violated SDK rules. We can discuss the rights or wrongs of those rules, but there is no doubt that had the developers of these apps taken the time to read and understand the SDK terms, they wouldn't have wasted time and energy developing the non-compliant apps.

In the end, all this noise will be inconsequential. Out of 3000 apps available, less than a dozen were rejected. That's less than 1%. Mainstream audience won't care (or even hear) about this.

godrifle
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

-2

09/23, 08:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
Scary for enterprise user

As director of online technology at my workplace I am beginning to grow cold towards Apple's closed systems. While Apple has led the way with a number of innovative products, the lag time inherent in developing/deploying for those opportunities gives us ample time to recognize that Apple has yet to embrace the sort of transparency and interoperability needed for mainstream budget-conscious organizations like ours to adopt their technology. Open systems are by far the better bet.

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

-1

09/23, 10:09pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
TOTAL FAIL, APPLE. U FAIL

Un-freaking-believable. How in the world do they get the stones to hold app developers to an NDA after they REJECT them??
.
Just another pile of c*** coming from Apple these days. I bet somehow the manager for the MobileMe rollout made this rule up.
.
What in the world is going on in Cupertino these days??
.
Keep pulling this stuff Apple, and you'll see that stock dip lower than it already IS.
.
TOTAL FAIL.

bleee
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Mar 2002

+3

09/23, 11:46pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Apple can you say

Anti trust???

Apple need a wake up call... this is no different than Microsoft refusing to ship Netscape with windows. Mac fan boys can argue all they want...

"Your mail app competes with our mail app"

What if I like the other mail app better shouldn't I have a choice???

bobolicious
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

+4

09/24, 12:56am | report spam | close Reply |
Competition = choice...

...and if Apple keeps their cards too close an open source alternative may prevail - Apple's closed circuit may offset limitations with benefits such as security/consistency & ideally we will have at least 2 platforms to choose from... I wonder if fuelling open source at this time is a good thing to balance the 'other' potential 800lb gorilla in the room... I suspect many dropped proprietary apps for neo-office now that it is available in a maturing desktop market...

danviento
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2005

-3

09/24, 12:57am | report spam | close Reply |
He said it!

Props to Aullz.

chadpengar
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

+1

09/24, 12:58am | report spam | close Reply |
buz words

godrifle said, "As director of online technology at my workplace I am beginning to grow cold towards Apple's closed systems. While Apple has led the way with a number of innovative products, the lag time inherent in developing/deploying for those opportunities gives us ample time to recognize that Apple has yet to embrace the sort of transparency and interoperability needed for mainstream budget-conscious organizations like ours to adopt their technology. Open systems are by far the better bet."

Wow, can you say "buzz word"?

TheSnarkmeister
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

+5

09/24, 03:26am | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Hubris

The great leveler.

Apple's board should be making some changes. Stock value has declined by more than a third, far more than than the overall market during the same time, which means the market is specifically responding negatively to Apple's renewed hyper arrogance.

wadesworld
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Apr 2001

+2

09/24, 03:31am | report spam | close Reply |
Cake and eat it too

The problem with all the moaning going on here, is most people WANT Apple to provide tight control. They just don't want to have to know about it.

Can you hear it now if Apple were to open up? "Man, this is totally ridiculous! Apple, I do not want to have to 75 mail applications until I find one that works! Just give me mail that works direct from Apple and let these other guys write other apps!"

Or..."I downloaded such-and such app and it sucks! It's all your fault Apple. I don't want open-source if it's going to be c***! I want the kind of application quality we expect on the Mac!"

Like I said - people WANT rejections. They just don't want to hear about them.

ibugv4
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2003

-3

09/24, 08:16am | report spam | close Reply |
without some control

all you have is chaos.

slider
Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

-3

09/24, 08:43am | report spam | close Reply |
Much Noise

You know, I think there's more press over all this than is probably warranted. With minor exception, it's not iPhone users who are griping about this, it's developers that won't be able to profit on selling their apps to a rapidly growing users base.

Last year Apple was not allowing apps to be officially installed on the iPhone, but had their AJAX work-around. A year later, there's the App Store. Before anyone starts firebombing Apple HQ, lets see how Apple response to all this.

And as other have said, if you, as a developer really have and issue with this, don't develop for the platform. There is Android, Palm, and Windows Mobile.

bjojade
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

+2

09/24, 09:19am | report spam | close Reply |
options

I agree that users aren't complaining about the apps that aren't approved. In fact, they are relatively happy with the quality of the selections available. It sucks that Apple prevents certain apps from being on the store. It would be neat if they allowed a 'non authorized method' to get apps. This is available through hacking the phone and not using the Apple blessed choices. However, once you hack the thing open, you don't know what that rogue app you download will do.

I had the displeasure of using a Windows mobile device for a week because I don't have AT&T for a carrier. All I can say is WOW, it's on version 6 and it was the worst handheld experience I've ever had. It went right back to the store.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+2

09/24, 09:43am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Cake and eat it

Can you hear it now if Apple were to open up? "Man, this is totally ridiculous! Apple, I do not want to have to 75 mail applications until I find one that works! Just give me mail that works direct from Apple and let these other guys write other apps!"

Yes, because that has been the problem with the entire software market for 30 years. Too much choice! I'm sorry, but how come these 'issues' are issues on a phone platform, but not for a desktop OS? There are dozens of email clients, media players, etc, but I don't hear people bemoaning the fact that they have choice, of all thing!

And why is Mail special? Or media playing? bBut other apps aren't? There are dozens of note apps, similar games, etc. Shouldn't Apple reject all but the first app of any type, because it duplicates existing functionality?

Or..."I downloaded such-and such app and it sucks! It's all your fault Apple. I don't want open-source if it's going to be c***! I want the kind of application quality we expect on the Mac!"

Your basic "I own a Mac, so I feel superior and believe that whatever Apple gives me must be better than anything else anyone else can make!" attitude.

But, here's the easy solution. If you want your Apps all from Apple, then just BUY THEM FROM APPLE! Don't get the crappy open-source software if it doesn't meet your needs.

Again, it is called CHOICE! To have the ability to choose what you want and don't want to have. No one forces you to download apps A, B, and C.

Oh, and keep in mind, because of the AppStore and the way it is set up, you HAVE to buy an App in order to try it out. There's no demos. There's no trial period. Some might like this, but many don't.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+1

09/24, 09:46am | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Re: Much noise

Last year Apple was not allowing apps to be officially installed on the iPhone, but had their AJAX work-around. A year later, there's the App Store. Before anyone starts firebombing Apple HQ, lets see how Apple response to all this.

Another reason the developers are pissed at apple. Apple goes out and says "You can make apps. Web 2.0 apps! Get on board!" and developers follow along and work their apps for a web 2.0 world of apps. Then Apple turns around and goes "Now we'll let you do apps! So stop working the web apps and get on board the SDK!".

Nothing like wasting developer's times. Is it any wonder Adobe never switched over from Carbon. They probably didn't trust that Apple wasn't going to change their minds again.

tmedia1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2007

0

09/24, 10:13am | report spam | close Reply |
revenge

Can't help but think that rejecting gmail app is Apples revenge for Google developing android. Also, this reeks of hindering free speech. Why should Apple fear what developers are saying about them upon rejection. If they are treating people fair, they should have nothing to fear. Are they gonna have me on NDA when I buy a MacBook??? Sheesh Apple, lighten up! Me thinks the lawyers need something better to do..

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

+1

09/24, 06:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
This doesn't seem wise.

I typically trust Apple's judgement, but this doesn't strike me as a good approach. The App Store is arguably the iPhone's greatest asset, but that's only because of the development community. Mistreating those developers puts the store in jeopardy.

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Apple extends iPhone NDA, rejects Gmail app

updated 05:00 pm EDT, Tue September 23, 2008

Apple extends iPhone NDA

OK, s**** this fascist cr

The free market

seriously

Android

This is nonsense

Fascists

-1 Apple

Binding?

Lame

scary

Down Hill

Whiners (sorry)

Scary for enterprise user

TOTAL FAIL, APPLE. U FAIL

Apple can you say

Competition = choice...

He said it!

buz words

Hubris

Cake and eat it too

without some control

Much Noise

options

Re: Cake and eat it

Re: Much noise

revenge

This doesn't seem wise.

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Apple extends iPhone NDA, rejects Gmail app

updated 05:00 pm EDT, Tue September 23, 2008

Apple extends iPhone NDA

Related Articles

Recent Articles

OK, s**** this fascist cr

The free market

seriously

Android

This is nonsense

Fascists

-1 Apple

Binding?

Lame

scary

Down Hill

Whiners (sorry)

Scary for enterprise user

TOTAL FAIL, APPLE. U FAIL

Apple can you say

Competition = choice...

He said it!

buz words

Hubris

Cake and eat it too

without some control

Much Noise

options

Re: Cake and eat it

Re: Much noise

revenge

This doesn't seem wise.

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

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MacNN Marketplace