This post was revised on October 3, 2008.

My latest post on Inside iPhone generated a lot of feedback. Several readers told me that I misinterpreted Apple's eight sentence announcement that it was dropping the Non-Disclosure Agreement that covers "released iPhone software".

I thought that the term "released iPhone software" referred to developer's apps, not the iPhone SDK itself. My mistake.

Some readers who commented on my original post have said things like, "How could anyone have concluded that the NDA covers unreleased third-party software?" Well, I read things like Apple Extends Non-Disclosure to App Store Rejection Letters and concluded that Apple was reiterating that policy.

The application of a Non-Disclosure Agreement to the information contained in an iTunes App Store rejection letter is apparently a relatively new development. It was discussed in Macworld Podcast #131 that I listened to over the weekend. The thinking at that time was that the imposition of this NDA and the unpredictability of App Store rejections would have a chilling effect on iPhone application development.

Maybe I conflated issues related to two separate Apple non-disclosure agreements. If so, I'm sorry. But, I don't think that the conclusions I drew based on the way Apple phrased their announcement were unreasonable. I also don't think that these conclusions are indicative of a lack of research on my part.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am retaining my original post in its entirety, which you can read below.

Why Was the NDA Only Dropped for Developers Who Have Shipped?

It's great that Apple has dropped the NDA for developers who have shipped iPhone software. My question is, why continue to restrict developers who haven't yet shipped their iPhone apps?

Let's say that you decided to invest time and effort into developing an iPhone app, and finishing the app is taking longer than you think it should. Why isn't that something you can blog about?

What about blogging (or writing a book) about the experience of trying to write an indy iPhone app, but not quite getting there? That would be a sad ending to the story, but if it were the truth, could you tell it?

When I read the message on the home page of Apple's iPhone Developer Site:

...However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software....

[Emphasis in the quote is mine.]

My first reaction was, "Apple couldn't be keeping the NDA in effect on unreleased software just to restrict comments from developers whose apps are rejected from the iTunes App Store, could they?" However, the more I think about it, the more that seems like a plausible reason for doing what they're doing.

I'm not normally one given over to conspiratorial thinking. Could you tell me if I'm misreading the situation?

On a somewhat-related note, I want to give a shout out to fellow Inside iPhone contributor Paul Kafasis who was a guest on Macworld Podcast #131 which came out about 10 days ago. I thought his comments on the state of the App Store from a developer perspective were really interesting. Paul made me rethink a lot of my perceptions of how the App Store is working for developers and for the iPhone user community.

I also thought that the plug that Macworld's Chris Breen gave Inside iPhone was pretty generous.