With the iphone AppStore due to debut within a month’s time, developers who have been accepted into Apple’s official iphone program are chomping at the bit to discuss their upcoming applications. Murkiness regarding Apple’s non-disclosure agreement, signing of which is a prerequisite to the program, has stymied promotional efforts, including interviews with the press, publication of screenshots and even bare-bones announcements.
NDA confusion
Apple’s NDA states that members of the developer program shall not disclose any information regarding the functionality or makeup of the currently available, beta software development kit (SDK). As such, many developers are unsure regarding what exactly constitutes an NDA violation: pushing screenshots of SDK-developed applications to a Web site?; discussing application, but not SDK features with the press?
Specifically, Apple’s NDA reads:
“You agree that the SDK licensed hereunder, the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and any other non-public information that You learn about Apple’s products, designs, research, development, know-how, or Apple’s business, finances or personnel, or non-public third party information, in connection with this Agreement or in connection with Your use of any part of the SDK will be deemed ‘Apple Confidential Information’ under this Agreement.”
All quiet on the development front
In the week after Apple’s announcement of the SDK, the company confirmed that a roster of notable developers, including Intuit, PopCap, Net Suite and Six Apart had signed on to deliver applications through the AppStore. Since then, however, the heavy hitters have been all but silent. None have posted video or image-based demonstrations of their applications, nor feature descriptions.
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