App Store Blacklisting Now Comes With Gag Order
Yesterday we reported that the iPhone app MailWrangler had been rejected because it “duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail.” What we didn’t find out about until today is that Apple’s notice to the developer came with a request to keep the rejection on the down low.
According to MacRumors, notes from Apple are now closing with the unambiguous message:
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE
MacRumors does suggest that this may well be a reminder of the original NDA process. If this is the case, though, developers shouldn’t be signing the damn thing: Any agreement that holds a developer to silence even after a project is passed on is overly persecutory. (And yes, that is a word.) [MacRumors]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Has Apple gone completely mad???
That’s fair enough on Apple’s part. Any standard NDA will stipulate that information passing between the involved parties in relation to the project the NDA covers, is subject to that NDA. Apple have every right to remind developers that their communications are subject to non disclosure.
Frankly I’m amazed Apple haven’t put the blockers on these kind of leaks sooner. Any developer who breaks the NDA risks losing their developer license and that puts them out of the game for good. Why take the risk?
And to those who say that all of this is anti-competitive, not fair, etc etc, the simple fact is that developers know the score when they sign up, and before they can write a single line of code. That’s the risk they take when they agree to be part of the program. If they don’t like it, there’s always Android.