Apple has dropped its requirement that developers adhere to a non-disclosure agreement for Apple's released iPhone software. The NDA has covered just about everything to do with developing software and getting applications onto the iTunes App Store and was a source of constant griping from developers.

The NDA remains in place for unreleased iPhone software and features, however -- that is, developers can't talk about what's coming out in the next version of the iPhone's operating system.

However, even with the NDA drop and the freeing up of iPhone developers to talk about their apps, that doesn't solve all the problems that people have with the iPhone ecosystem. Technologizer's Harry McCracken sums it up nicely:

The end of the blanket NDA doesn’t do anything to resolve what is probably the most serious issue relating to iPhone development, which is the evidence that Apple will reject third-party apps which tread too closely to its own programs. That’s potentially devastating to the platform, and iPhone developers and users deserve explanation of Apple’s reasoning the end of such policies, if they do in fact exist.

 

Apple rejected a podcasting application because it "duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes" -- though the developers and people who have used the application disagree with that assessment. We'll have to wait and see if this calms the iPhone developer community or if it's just a temporary band-aid on a grumpy community.

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