There was some consternation when the iPhone first came out and the only place you could buy apps for it was through Apple’s Application Store. Some felt that Apple would abuse the power, but most of us had faith that they would do the right thing. Now, however, it’s time to worry.

First, they threw out a few apps which clearly had questionable value, such as “I Am Rich”, which cost $999.00 and didn’t do anything but prove that the user was rich enough to afford it. Stupid idea, and although I would have preferred they allow the marketplace to sink that app to the bottom of the pond, I could understand why they pulled it. Then there was “Pull My Finger”, which made fart sounds (complete with making the phone vibrate). Even less defensible, but I could see where they would not want news articles being written that contained both the words “iPhone” and “fart”, so ok… I don’t think the world is worse off without a fart sound generator, even though I think they were wrong to reject it.

Then things got worse. They denied a couple of apps for duplicating existing functionality. This is wrong on so many levels… first, there, is nothing in the developer agreement that says you can’t do this. It’s called competition, people! And even worse, they are only doing this with apps they feel duplicate *Apple’s* functionality. They don’t care if there are 15 sudoku games, but if you want to play podcasts or display email messages, even if you do both of those things in a clearly different way than Apple’s apps do, you’re shit out of luck.

Even worse, there’s no way to get an idea pre-approved, so the only way to find out whether Apple will accept your app or not is to do *all* of the work of building it, submit it for review, and cross your fingers.

Their last smooth move was to deal with the uproar, which is growing by the day, by putting an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) notice in the rejection letters. So if your app is rejected, you’re not allowed to discuss that fact in public. WTF??

And all of this is happening coincidentally with the release of the first phone to run Android, Google’s open source mobile phone OS. Apple, please…. could you *be* any more stupid?? Do you really want developers turning their attention to Android because they are afraid to trust you anymore???

This has all been written about many times, by far bigger names in the community than mine. But there’s one thing that strikes me that I haven’t seen anyone else mention: this tactic Apple is using, of putting an NDA on the rejection letters… is it just me, or does that seem an awful lot like those National Security Letters the Bush Administration is so fond of? The ones where they send you a letter demanding some kind of information in an unlawful manner (ie no warrant, no probable cause) and you are not only obligated to give it up, but you can’t tell anyone about it. Not even a lawyer, so you are incapable of defending yourself. Of course the stakes are a lot higher in that situation but still… the tactics seem similar to me, and equally indefensible.

It all makes me sad… I love my iPhone and I want to see it and Apple succeed beyond all our wildest dreams, but this is pretty hard to support. I have a couple of app ideas that I’d love to build, but even if they are accepted and do well in the store, the ick factor is going to take away a lot of the joy. And I know quite a few people now who are abandoning their iPhone dev ambitions, at least for now, because they can’t afford to put in the time and then have Apple reject their app.

*sigh* C’mon, guys, just admit you blew it and fix this, m’kay? Preferably before you do so much damage to the brand that it never fully recovers….

Update – Gruber is questioning the part about the rejection notices being covered by NDA. I’ll update this post if he publishes any conclusions.