• iPhone SDK NDA (OMG)
July 24, 2008 – 2:00 pmThere’s a lot of concern right now about the restrictive NDA that comes with the iPhone SDK. Chiefly, the concern is that people can’t hold developer meetings, share ideas, write books, or open their code without breaking the agreement and risking the wrath of Apple.
One need only look to the app store itself to see that the “no talking” policy has already hurt the developer community and users. It seems everyone, working in silence, thought to themselves, “I’m going to build the iPhone game” or “I bet nobody is doing a location-based social networking app!” Meanwhile, certain basics are missing — the only IM application is AIM, which is obviously single-protocol1 – and many of the applications lack quality and polish. Apps that might have been better if the developer had been given the opportunity to work with a community and look at diverse code samples.
So what’s the deal? Is Apple being evil and secretive, as so many advocates of openness like to proclaim? Are they trying to hide something? Why are they stealing our freedoms? Don’t they know that code wants to be free?
There’s no evil at work here. Apple is just doing what Apple does best: giving their users what they want. The truth is that the walled garden approach is what users want. Not you or I, per se, but the vast majority of users want consistency, and to know that any applications they install are from a trusted source. Until now, that meant keeping the SDK in plain sight to prevent every little bug from pissing off developers and gaining media attention (and it would have). This is annoying, to be sure, but understandable.
What about the future?
Apple is nothing if not consistent. There is a very established pattern of starting simple and gradually adding things over time; design something and put in the features that 100% of your users will want. When those are done, tested, and proven successful, start on the 90% features. Then the 80% features. Then the 70% features. This is a good philosophy, as it reduces the risk of support nightmares while allowing them to reap the benefits of good press whenever someone’s pet feature is implemented.
Like it or not, SDK openness is not a 100% feature. But it will happen, and probably soon2
WordPress is making a bold move by opening their iPhone app, and it’s getting enough coverage that Apple is sure to notice. The good news is that this will force Apple’s hand. They can take action and alienate developers, or they can use this as an opportunity to remove the restrictions — something that was likely on the way regardless.
When it happens, you can bet that the usual suspects will swear that Apple never had any plans to change anything, and only did it because they were forced to. Apple has everything to gain from allowing the sale of iPhone development books. They have everything to gain from people holding development camps and exchanging code ideas. For proof, look no further than Apple’s own WWDC, an annual convention for OS X developers to do exactly what we’re talking about. And it’s no accident that the iPhone OS is named OS X.
As time goes by, Apple will do everything it can to blur the line between OS X for the Mac and OS X for the iPhone. A unified developer community will only make both platforms stronger.