NDA

As promised earlier this month, Apple has posted a new version of their iPhone developer agreement. One version is publicly available, while another is only available to registered devs. Most of the restrictions of "confidential information" now seems to be focused on Apple's pre-release software.

Apple has dropped their Non-Disclosure Agreement for iPhone app developers. Since March 6, 2008, anyone who wanted to develop official apps for the iPhone were legally bound to keep their mouths shut about nearly everything to do with the process, but no longer. Apple released an official open letter on Apple.com to their developers stating that the NDA for released apps has been lifted, as well as explaining why it was put in place.

Classes on developing for the iPhone in one way or another have been popping up around the US, even though the strict NDA attached to the iPhone SDK remains in place. The NDA indirectly prohibits the sharing of information on how to write code for the iPhone, but that's not stopping North London's Qantm College from introducing their own iPhone Game Development course.

The legally binding Non-Disclosure Agreement all iPhone developers are required to agree to forbids the discussion of iPhone app development, and it's hindering the quality of the apps being developed for the iPhone and iPod touch. The restriction is creating some significant problems for many, but some have found a way around the contract.

The NDA looming over iPhone app development has been causing developers a lot of frustration. It's viewed by many to be largely unnecessary, and blocks open collaboration among developers, limiting the resources at their disposal. But there may be a reason for Apple to be doing all of this.

With all of the buzz around developing for the iPhone, it's understandable that those preparing to enter the software development industry will want to prepare for developing on the new platform. Stanford seem to be trying to meet the demand. TUAW discovered that they're offering an entire computer science course starting this fall devoted solely to programming on the iPhone platform. Given that Apple has yet to lift the NDA for app development, we're not sure how they're going to pull it off.

So the App Store has been open for weeks, but Apple has yet to lift the NDA on what developers can disclose to each other and the public about what their working on. As you might guess, quite a few of these developers are pretty darn upset, and as TUAW points out, have voiced their frustration on an aptly named website, F***ingNDA.com (link url is NSFW), which collects together tweets from developers cursing the iPhone app NDA. Will Apple respond to their pleas and lift the contract? Who knows.

Forbes is claiming to have information from three people that have "been briefed on the matter" that Apple will be launching the highly anticipated App Store at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday to coincide with the sale of the first iPhone 3G's, which will occur simultaneously in New Zealand.