The latest reports of Apple’s penchant for silently removing iPhone applications is quite disturbing. This should give any software developer pause before investing any time or energy in developing for the new platform. While I think that the concept of the iPhone App Store is worthy (having a centrally managed, easy-to-use repository for applications with easy installation and updates), Apple needs to take a step back and look at the message their actions are sending to their potential developers.
- Why is there an NDA required in order to use the SDK?
- Why can’t apps with “objectionable” adult content be distributed in the app store?
- Why can’t other app stores be created for those who don’t want to play by Apple’s rules?
- If any application could be capriciously removed by an Apple censor at any time without explanation, why would anyone choose to develop an application of any significance for this platform?
My message to Apple (not that anyone there is reading this) is stop censoring and stop lying. How hard is that? Apple is turning into a much more devious, untrustworthy company than Microsoft ever was.