You may have seen a link to a site called, well, &*%#ing NDA. If you might be offended by coarse language, avoid clicking this link. The site collects tweets from various developers who are expressing their frustration with Apple's Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) regarding the iPhone, and boy are there a lot of them.
What's the problem with the NDA exactly? Well, first up, it's illogical. The iPhone SDK can be downloaded by anyone, anywhere, merely by signing up for a free account. If anyone can automatically access this information, what's the point of preventing developers from discussing the SDK?
Second, many developers ignore the NDA anyway. People frequently ask iPhone questions on Apple's popular Cocoa-Dev list despite the NDA, despite a very visible warning against such behavior, and despite the routine posts from the moderators saying not to. Apple's own discussions pages are full of forbidden iPhone discussion, and the moderators there don't seem to care. Outside of Apple, there are thousands of private blogs, forums, chats, and simple direct conversations that Apple really can't do anything about. Any developer who feels bound to respect the NDA ends up facing a strong disadvantage compared to those who simply ignore it.
Worst of all, the NDA has an extremely negative impact on development itself. Each developer is forced to waste a great deal of time and effort re-inventing every solution and workaround, because we're unable to share information amongst each other. If a developer hits a snag with Xcode's iPhone bits, for instance, he's stuck figuring it out for himself because there's no place he can go to discuss the issue. If he finds a great new way of doing something, he can't pass it along, for fear of violating the NDA. In addition to stifling conversation among existing developers, the NDA is also preventing books on iPhone development from being published, meaning fewer new developers will work on the platform.
On the Mac platform, knowledge sharing is commonplace and resources for development are plentiful. This community is one of the best aspects of writing software for the Mac. On the iPhone, however, the NDA means no such community is allowed to exist. Developers are forced to either remain silent or help others at their own risk.
Most people assumed that this NDA would be lifted when the iPhone 2.0 software shipped. Prior to that, the NDA made some sense, if one assumed Apple was looking to maximize publicity. Once a product ships though, Apple traditionally lifts any NDAs in place. However, now everything is publicly available with iPhone 2.0, and yet developers still can't discuss it.
Put it all together and you've got a direct impact on both the quantity and quality of software for the iPhone. The NDA is slowing the pace of both new software and updates from reaching users, and that's not good for anyone. Developers and users alike should be hoping that the NDA will be lifted soon.
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building a strong community should be among Apple's top priorities. hopefully they will fix this soon.
This is all a step towards the transfer of power from Apple to the developer community.
Right now developers respect(hmm....fear) apple since they want to get their apps approved soon, but in a couple of months, when confidence starts to build developers will gain more power from apple. they'll be able to leverage their apps towards making apple yield in many of their current fuck ups.
Great article!
Apple has its hands full with many, many things cooking. I understand the extension of the NDA for hardware that is still unannounced.
Trust me, the devs will stop griping so much as the App Store checks start flowing to them. There will eventually be some *millionaires* from there.
since my comment was lost id just say that your comment system sucks
I think the main reason NDA is still on is to prevent Google and Microsoft engineers telling their colleagues who are working on competing system from copy/reverse engineering without breaking the NDA.
Besides, I don't know why you keep crying about NDA after all aren't you
a cocoa programming. All that you have learned should translate.
I'm pretty sure the NDA doesn't prevent discussion within a single company. If it did, any company with more than one iPhone programmer would be totally screwed!
As for "translating" Cocoa experience, the iPhone is a pretty different environment. Some Cocoa experience translates, some doesn't. Obviously I can't tell you what is different (&*%#ing NDA) but suffice it to say that there are still plenty of difficult questions even for experienced Cocoa people.
quote:
"In addition to stifling conversation among existing developers, the NDA is also preventing books on iPhone development from being published, meaning fewer new developers will work on the platform."
After remembering that O'Reilly is a book publishing company I could understand why you wrote this article.
I'm putting together a course on iPhone SDK Programming, but the NDA appears to be preventing me from giving it. I don't understand Apple's reasoning.
Apple doesn't make Mac programming a secret - why make iPhone programing a secret? It wastes our time, and time is precious.
Books and courses would lead to better iPhone software. Apple should be encouraging this.
I'm writing a programming book for the iphone OS 2.xx. But thanks Apple. I'm the only one that will get to read it!!!
> I'm pretty sure the NDA doesn't prevent discussion within a single company.
Correct. It actually explicitly allows it.
Maybe Apple are considering further changes to the APIs? iPhone OS 2.0 does seem a bit buggy, at least from my point of view as an end user.
Jonathan T: Thanks for the compliment. As for your prediction, I think that's likely to be the way that it goes, and I'm certainly hopeful as well.
Mike Cane: I'm not sure where you get the idea that the NDA is protecting unannounced hardware in this case - it isn't.
As for minting a few millionaires, that really isn't any big accomplishment and the fact that the system isn't entirely broken doesn't change the fact that the NDA is making development more difficult than it needs to be.
rd: Preventing large companies from access, as they would be less willing to sign an NDA, may well be a reason. But one, even if so, it's hurting a LOT of other programmers in the process and two, it sure isn't Yahoo and Google, who both have close working relationships with Apple.
As Mike A points out, some of Cocoa translates, but it's certainly not identical, or even close, to developing for a Mac.
Mike A: No, internal discussion is fine - did I indicate otherwise? I didn't intend to.
Luis Alejandro Masanti: I'm amused that you're looking to ascribe motives to this, but my motive is the obvious one - I'd like to see the NDA removed, to facilitate easier, more productive development. I don't have a book waiting to go out through O'Reilly, nor do I know anyone who does. They may well have them in the pipeline, but it's got nothing to do with me.
Dave Wilson, DM: Precisely. Good luck with the course, and book, respectively!
Paul D. Waite: We've heard some different ideas for why the NDA is still on, but none of them really add up to me. API changes don't really affect much, except perhaps deadtree books, which go out of date quickly anyway. If anything, the idea that 2.0 is beta, Apple knows it, and developers are being deliberately stifled makes more sense to me. But I don't know that I buy that either.
A little bit of research could have prevented a bit of egg on your face.
I'd like to dispel the notion that the NDA is stopping the publishing of iPhone SDK books.
Addison-Wesley has two iPhone books announced:
http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-Developers-Cookbook-Building-Applications/dp/0321555457
and
http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-Programmers-Road-Map-Official/dp/0321591569
Apress has two iPhone books announced as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-iPhone-SDK-Development/dp/1430216263
and
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-iPhone-Application-Development-Professional/dp/1430210516
And Manning has one too:
http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-Action-Introduction-Web-Development/dp/193398886X
Maybe we could get a little informal mailing list together for people who are already trying to make some sense of the SDK. I mean, if two people NOT in the same company already have the SDK, then they wouldn't be disclosing anything to the other.
I'm personally looking for some advice on dealing with multiple views where a landscape view replaces a portrait view automatically when the device is rotated. If anyone has some sample code please contact me!
PJ Cabrera: It's not stopping the books from being announced or written, it's stopping them from being published.
There's no egg on my face here - I know of at least one book (your very first link, in fact) that's being held as A-W waits for the SDK to be lifted. Until it is, none of these books can be published.
Paul Miller: It's a nice idea, but it's also liable to get shut down by Apple.
Our Book will be titled "Cocoa Touch Programming for OS X: The Ultimate Guide to iPhone and iPod Touch Programming".
If you want to learn more keep an eye out on the website
http://www.cocoatouchprogramming.com/
We are currently looking for a publisher or we may end up doing so ourselves. You can do anything on your Mac. :-)
Well just in case I'm gonna remain anonymous. Paul M. with regard to the one view changing to the other when the device rotates, you should be able to implement that through the
shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation
if I understand that correctly, this function should be called in case the device rotates. However I haven't tested it...
Well, here we are... getting very close to a full month since the launch of the App Store, and still no lifting of the NDA, and to my knowledge, no reasons from Apple, nor a time frame of when the NDA will be lifted. Does anyone have a clue as to:
1) Why on earth Apple's leaving the NDA in effect?
2) When the NDA will be lifted so I can buy a dang book?
Thanks & happy coding!
Thank you for sharing useful information.Even if people say its ok, you shouldnt take chances this statement is very true.. be safe then sorry, dont risk it because its better not to have your iphone until your get a knew phone then to break it in 35 min. you choose, have your phone in the sauna for 35 minutes or keep it out of the heat and be able to use it as long as you like.
Developer4lease-Web Business, Application Development
Well, I was thinking about programming some apps for the iPhone/iPod/iPad, actually more than thinking, just bought a new (well, unused) 4g iPod Touch to test apps on, but with this NDA still in effect (which I'll never agree to), I'm going to send Apple a nastygram about it, then figure out what to do with the now useless hardware I bought.
F U and your NDA very much, Apple.
Oh well, at least I can jailbreak it and do some non-intended stuff with it. Maybe use it as a tiny ebook reader.