Apple has just announced on their developer connection page that they have made the tough decision to drop the iPhone’s non-disclosure agreement (NDA):
We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.
We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.
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. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.
Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.
This freedom only applies to applications currently out there roaming the app store; Apple still have a tight grip on apps still in development, and a lot of applications recently are being declined due to them accessing parts of the phone Apple don’t want them to, or for creating software which competes with Apples own.
Still, this is great news; let’s party, people!
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