LOL!!! All in the name of shareholder's interest... For the rest of us, we either create a company better than Apple and then let everyone go about their business creating apps and be vocal about it (share price would be $0.02 for a company without direction) or ...

Gibberish

Of COURSE it's a word. An entirely cromulent word!

MasterYong

@SgtToastie: Because despite being total pricks with regards to the iPhone, they are still completely open on the Mac. Go figure that one.

And there isn't any good alternative to the Mac if you aren't exactly a big Windows fan. Because that just leaves Linux, and as much as I respect Linux and Ubuntu and all that, the GUIs are about as terrible as Linux is great. The ONLY company that has figured out UI design in their OS is Apple.

So its hard because on one side, Apple is definitely in the wrong here, but its not enough to deem them evil yet. I guess I'm still hoping that these restrictions will disappear at some point.

moo083

Oh, so close to no apple news all day. You don't ever disappoint, gizmodo.

mricpx

@Tweak: Hehe, Mr. Jobs very much enjoyed your humorous joke. Of course Apple doesn't have a dark side. Now quickly, go over to ihypno.apple.com for a special treat!

Toshie

over zealous lawyers, big deal. is the whole development process perfect? no. but at least they apple has one, and at least it is working to give some assurance of quality control.

just you wait, 12 months from now, the black hole that is android development, where each carrier is putting the device-specific restrictions left right and center, and apple's SDK is going to seem like the garden of eden.

tucker

This kind of censoring activity by Apple is unacceptable. Communists!!! :)

yoshi

@b0bcat: The only light side we see is the shiny covers on apple products

Tweak

@wills916: People = sheep. That's why. Apple have gone from the "white is cool" to "rainbow colours are cool". So it looks like they are running out of ideas.

lsim001

I swear that this is the moment when Apple starts becoming the wearer of the black hat; the bad guy who would rather squash dissent than have reasoned debate, who would rather exert bullying control than see its community iterate to the best, most innovative solution, who seems to fear that if real community fosters they will organize and revolt rather than iterate and elevate this still nascent platform to new heights.

If we simply switched the exact same storyline from 'Apple and iPhone' to 'Microsoft and Windows Mobile,' and said that Microsoft was not allowing email packages other than Outlook or browsers other than IE, everyone would be talking about Evil Empires, antitrust and bad karma.

Yes, this is Apple's platform, and they can technically do whatever the hell they please, but we all know the axiom of biting the hand that feeds you, and developers are that hand in a platform play. Be the bully, at your own peril, as not only is this not defensible, it is a great way to tarnish the brand.

Read: Apple v. Podcaster: White Hat, Black Hat
[thenetworkgarden.com]

netgarden

@ripfire: Ok, the moment I tried NOT to reply, it ends up on someone's thread.

WTF??

ripfire

At the risk of starting a flame war; this whole apple-bashing thing is pointless. People who love Apple love them unconditionally. People who hate Apple hate them unconditionally. Nothing that Apple does or says is going to sway the thoughts or opinions of either camp. It's a moo point(yes, that was on purpose, and a great reference at that!).

murphthesurf5

@Tweak: I didn't know they had a light side.

b0bcat

I have a feeling Apple hates developers. Then again, looking at Steve Jobs history with Apple employees, this must be just a slap at the wrist.

ripfire

I have dropped all plans for iPhone development. The app store was a great way to provide a market for everyone to develop, but now it's only clearly for those who have enough resources to risk an expensive development effort that can be shelved at the discretion of Apple without cause.

doug316

Only Apple could get away with this king of BS and still be in business. I cant believe people still buy anything Apple makes.

wills916

Somebody doesn't want the public knowing that Apple has a dark side.

Tweak

Le sigh...content creators have to deal with this sort of contractual BS all the time. Doesn't matter what content you create, let it be iPhone Apps, movies, photos, etc, READ THE FINE PRINT. Doing so saves a bunch of issues such as who owns rights, etc.

I shoot photography for several rollerderby leagues...well, I did until all but one tried to make me sign paperwork that would give them exclusivity to all the photos I took of them, even at public functions. Stupid that ANYONE tries to get away with this...and they DO! Nonsense!

wizardofpants

Apple, you're such huge pricks. But I still own your Mac's...why!?

SgtToastie

In Soviet Russia, apps ban you.

b0bcat

Totalitarianism, NO!
Authoritarianism, Si!!

Enjoy your iron curtain phone.

strider_mt2k

Dude. Who do these people think they are? Apple has gotten totally out of control with their secrecy. It's absurd. You know what it makes me want to do? Not buy anything related to Apple!

gloveofpower

I think that's the final straw for me.
I bought a Touch because I thought the App Store would make things better. But now it's just a really pretty, really nice... thin... shiny.... *shakes head*

Time to jailbreak this bitch and get some real apps.
There are real apps for this thing, right?

YourTechSupport

@murphthesurf5: I hate Apple on the condition that they use Intel processors. Switch back to PowerPC and I go from being enemy #1 to BFF.

b0bcat

@b0bcat: Sadly, Yakov Smirnoff is playing at a hotel that I drive by every day on my commute to work (yes yes, I live in Reno) so every day on my way to work a little voice in my head says "In Soviet Russia, car drives you!"

mcjake

@tucker: perhaps now everybody will learn about xda-developers.com

jkr's bold comment

@b0bcat: In Capitalist America Apple pwns you.

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

@wizardofpants: Same thing with Jobs and Universities. Almost every art school I have been to or looked at has somewhere in its student contract that they claim all rights to works produced while at their institution in addition to a ton of legalese about what they do and don't owe you in recompense etc.

Same thing with most jobs.

juriko

This story made my day, I think I'd tell apple to stick it up their ass... you have to think they can't REALLY do much more then threaten you with a law suit. I think this would be treated as EULAs are treated in court, yeah you are technically agreeing, but it's a click through agreement and is rarely honored, and is only really enforced when theft, or loss of lots of money is the reason they are filing suit.

chorx

@b0bcat: Hmm, perhaps it's time to upgrade the iBook?

jopari

Apple does to technology what George Lucas does to Star Wars.

b0bcat

@ZombieRace: Right, x86 is a magnificent architecture and Power sucks. You idiot.

b0bcat

@mcjake: And what else does this magical little voice say to you?

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

@b0bcat: Well that's just the silliest thing I've read today.

If you really want gimped processors, I can't stop you, but switching to Intel was probably the smartest move apple has made.

Shame their OS is still crippled garbage.

ZombieRace

all i wanna know is WHY? why the crazy rules, the blackouts, the Stalag NDA? why? what good does it do anyone???

mcdj

@murphthesurf5: I disagree. I've loved apple for 15+ years. Stayed though thick and thin, but I've noticed in the past couple years apple has changed. They dont NEED to go head over heals for there client base anymore. Customer service has become an issue. They also used to be begging for developers, now they turn them away. It's getting scary.

Mig255

if you want to make 250 grand selling flahslight apps, you have be willing to give something up in trade to the all mighty apple.

spider2544

This is all just old news for ANYONE that has dealt with publicly-traded corporations: they are picky, random, capricious, and they change their minds. Given all that, why would anyone complain (except generally) and GUARANTEE they never get their app up?

Duh! Appeal it!

That aside...they gotta loosen it up a little...peer review board? Voting? Something. Google's store will be as randomly unreliable as the Adwords interface, and Android will be both revolutionary, neato, and the source of the first really bad phone virus. (double edged-sword). My iPhone (I knew you were gonna ask) is just an appliance--I need it to work as well as any other appliance. Hack a tivo, hack a washing machine, hack X10, but don't hack my phone, Holmes.

G.

loslosbaby

No apple for me!

wetworker

@mcdj: It's a closed beta. I know Google has warped the perception of beta testing as being open (and unending), but there's nothing unusual about closed beta testing.

sumocat

@murphthesurf5: I don't hate them unconditionally, just on conditions that they will most likely not resolve!

Reilaos~

big blue

that is all

Sixxtwo

I like how you picked a 1911/Colt. Good choice!

phungy

@Tweak: shiny covers that scratch 60 seconds out of the box (i timed it, on my brand new... well newISH now... 2gen ipod touch)... "fortunately" you can't see it from all of the fingerprints *eyeroll*

faux_codex

Wow.

This makes me sick to my stomach. The evil is definitely displayed here.

Developers...please listen to our plea. Release your applications via Cydia! You can still charge through Paypal and incorporate a product key into your software, so you can still get the money you deserve.

JUST SAY NO TO THE APP STORE.

x3r0

@juriko: Yeah, that's sad. The school I went to for photography actually had a business class that went over things like this in pretty good detail. We had area professionals come in to teach us how to write a good contract that protects us but doesn't sound like we're too restrictive. Even though all that seems boring, I'm really glad I payed attention; if I hadn't, some of my best work would belong to someone else right now. Screw that.

wizardofpants

@mcjake: Shit - I thought he was dead.

What The Geek

@moo083:

"And there isn't any good alternative to the Mac..."

That would entirely be your opinion. I find OSX unintuitive, lacking in features, and nothing but eye candy to hide its severe incapability. I own an iBook with Leopard.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@b0bcat: Beast.

unkpku is hating new comments

reminds me of Bush administration tactics

rlreif

Rule #1 of CocoaTouch Club - Do not talk about CocoaTouch Club.
Rule #2 of CocoaTouch Club - We freakin own you. Don't you dare even think about talkin about CocoaTouch Club.
Rule #3 of CocoaTouch Club - Are you talkin about CocoaTouch Club? So help me....if yer talkin bout CoacoaTouch Club, my friend here will break your wife's fingers. I DON'T CARE if we didn't let you into CoacoaTouch Club, DO NOT freakin talk about CocoaTouch Club. Capice?

Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)

@moo083: How is this not evil? They have turned iPhone app registration in to a black box that your not even allowed to comment on in a public manner. That is completely evil, and why i really hope that the Android OS takes off.

luciusad2004

hmm.... what is irony? posting an article about an app that was blacklisted when it should NOT have been announced that it was blacklisted.... then having an article announcing the fact that the article mentioned should not have been mentioned in the first place.

ElementalDragon

@tucker:
Hopefully the other carriers desperation to match the iphone's popularity has lead then to give up on some of what you said, but we will see when sprint releases its android phone.

Zomb

Get used to stronghanded tactics, you're in the Microsoft world now with gag orders, things in an agreement to hold you back and control you. It's all in the mix.

Nick_Bentley

@x3r0: I love Cydia, but QuickPwn screwed over my iPhone 3G to the point where I had to go without.

The SMS app would fail to work, and it was buggy at best while my iPhone was jailbroken.

If Cydia was able to be installed on my iPhone without the bugginess, I'd be totally fine with it.

Anticitizen

@doug316: I was thinking the exact same thing. Originally I was entertaining the idea of buying a Macbook, sitting down, learning the code, and then getting an app out to the public. But your description of the ideal development scenario puts it all into perspective. I have time to waste, but not that much time...

DaiWalka

bah... "came with a request to keep the rejection on the down low."
non-disclosure disclaimer are really common.

and, just aside. anyone want to bet on Android being the 1st mobile OS which will get a serious virus? yes, even before the iPhone. And I will blame that on Apples App-Store policys.

Who let the Trolls out?

yes i am a apple fan (i own a airport, ipod classic, iphone, macbook pro my brother sister and mom have one macbook/imac/mac mini and one type of ipod) because we love the think different dogma, but since the ipod got to the top, apple became what it most hated IBM, harvey dent was right, either you die or live long enough to become the villain, the only one with the power to stop it from taking over the os world sucks, (Microsoft) their policy is very open and unrestrictive, but their product is horrible, case contrary to apple, and that is why as wozniak said an hacked iphone is a happy iphone

esh-satril

Again, all the more reason to put your App on Cydia. Apple really loves those jailbreakers don't they, they keep rejecting apps there is an obvious need/want for, they show up on Cydia and more and more people want to jailbreak their phones.

billc124

@moo083: Macs are still completly locked down on the hardware. There are many great alternatives to the mac like a vista PC or a Linux PC they all can do everything a mac can in many ways more(hence why apple is happy to allow you to run PC OS' on your mac but says fuck off if you want to run OSX on anything else than a mac). and hoping a biligerent company run by a egotist(smart yes but not a revolutionary savant like eveyrone says he is).

logicalnoise

So what's the incentive to not talk about it? Not getting future apps approved? Since Apple either gives a BS answer as to why an app didn't meet their standards (which are nebulous to begin with) or doesn't bother giving an answer at all, that's certainly no disincentive to remain mum. If anything, that would motivate someone to do the opposite.

I own several Apple products and have enjoyed the majority of products I've purchased from them over the years (though I don't really check the fanboy box.) But lately they seem to be more and more at odds with their consumer base. Then again, maybe the majority of that base DOES check the fanboy box.

As for them trying to squash Cydia apps and jailbreaking, this is step in the wrong direction. But so long as they continue to make heaps of money from the App Store, I don't see them changing their processes anytime in the future.

Zendriver

Yikes, why would they let this out just moments after Android/HTC/T-mobile's whole hoopla about being totally open? That's gotta increase the sting their loyal users are feeling a little bit. Seems like maybe it's an expression of how little they feel threatened by what Android might bring. Maybe it'll pay off and Android will flop and they will have an even tighter grip on their loyal users. Who knows...

Bluesk1d

@doug316: Were you planning on making something very similar to what ships on the iPhone? Or something that violates the rules Apple has esablished for third-party apps?

If not, you (like most iPhone developers) have got nothing to worry about, and you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

macserv

@luciusad2004: I, as an iPhone owner, am completely free to comment upon my experiences with it in a public manner. The same is true of the iPhone Dev Hackers... they can, and do, comment upon iPhone development freely.

The MailWrangler developers are also free to comment upon development issues for the iPhone, but unlike me or a hacker, they have entered into a contract with Apple, and as such are prohibited from sharing communications from Apple in a public manner. They can even talk about getting blocked, they just can't post the email they received. There's a big difference between the letter itself being under an NDA, and a gag order covering all aspects of development.

I'm glad the MailWrangler folks have chosen to be as open as they have been, because it's good for potential developers to have the foreknowledge of what Apple might not allow before beginning their development effort.

macserv

Uh, IANAL, but, how is that possibly enforceable?

Is it in the fine print that says that signing up for the App Dev program makes all communications with Apple NDA?

That's the only way you could get breach of contract... even then, it's not like there are any damages. Not like you're going to get an injunction.

hologon

That's what I love about Windows Mobile, run whatever the heck you want.

OtakuboyT

"Absolute Power corrupts absolutely"
Apple is first priority is making money! Apple introduced the ipod (not there idea) ...its a hit a couple more innovation then Stevie is walking around with a light saber with red and black paint on his face chopping heads who dare oppose his will. U got good idea, expect a rejection letter….cause Apple wants to patent it as there own and make $$$.....more and more Apple reminds of a Cult ready to take your soul. It All about control….its how Microsoft got where it at now. It's funny though because pretty soon you see Jobs making commercials like Gates explaining how normal he is and how he really is at heart like one us….only that he craps money!

KORG_

Devils Advocate:

Wonder how developers would feel if, after they submitted an application for approval, found that Apple had copied every blog in town about what a pathetic piece of crap app had just been submitted to them?

Up until now, developers have been able to visibly complain about Apple, however, for all we know, the app could have been complete crap, and Apple can't really explain that to anyone. Perhaps it's better if both Apple & devs zip it up.

Just sayin'

jwdav

Devils Advocate:

Wonder how developers would feel if, after they submitted an application for approval, found that Apple had copied every blog in town about what a pathetic piece of crap app had just been submitted to them?

Up until now, developers have been able to visibly complain about Apple, however, for all we know, the app could have been complete crap, and Apple can't really explain that to anyone. Perhaps it's better if both Apple & devs zip it up.

Just sayin' (and am aware this will be an unpopular thought).

jwdav

Devils Advocate:

Wonder how developers would feel if, after they submitted an application for approval, found that Apple had copied every blog in town about what a pathetic piece of crap app had just been submitted to them?

Up until now, developers have been able to publicly complain about Apple, however, for all we know, the app could have been complete crap, and Apple can't really explain that to anyone without damaging someones reputation. Perhaps it's better if both Apple & devs zip it up.

Just sayin', and I *know* it will be an unpopular comment ...

jwdav

As you already know, there are so many crappy iPhone apps, and so many buggy ones as well.
The problem is that developers have no way of communicating with quality beta testers (those that actually test and report bugs), and even worse, those developers whose apps did not pass through Apple's approval find themselves stranded.

iBetaTest.com wants to bridge the gap between developers and beta testers, help those stranded developers and apps denied in the app store by giving them ability to sell their apps to up to a 100 users (since that's the limit set by Apple on how many phones can be provisioned for such tasks), help developers create better apps by giving them access to quality testers (who are rated by developers so we all know who's worth what), and give the beta testers what they need: the early/vip access to the apps before they are launched, and even ability to make some money in the process: developers can choose to sponsor beta testers by paying them for their participation.

[iBetaTest.com]

peconi