[xmlvm-users] Feedback from Apple regarding XMLVM and the iPhone SDK license agreement

[Arno P. <ar...@pu...>]

Guys,

believe it or not, but I have gotten an email from an Apple guy 
explaining Apple's intent regarding the change in the iPhone SDK license 
agreement! First a bit of background how this came about: I am a 
professor at San Francisco State University and a couple of days ago I 
received an email from our IT guys. They have been contacted by the 
Apple University Liaison who offered to loan an iPhone and a data plan 
for one month. Our IT guys forwarded this offer to me. I have exchanged 
mails with that Apple guy before. I know him by name and he knows that 
something like XMLVM exists. Given the recent change in Apple's license 
agreement for the iPhone SDK, I replied "thanks, but no thanks". 
Essentially, I wrote that it is Apple prerogative to define the terms 
and conditions of their SDK. However it is my prerogative what I advise 
to my students. I told him bluntly that I am very disappointed by 
Apple's most recent move and I will tell my students to move towards 
Android.

I was very much looking forward to his response. I've added his entire 
response down below (but removing his name). This should be the most 
detailed clarification that Apple has given to date regarding their 
motivation about the latest change in the license agreement.

Now here is the interesting part: the Apple guy wrote that "Arno had 
created a tool that, in a simplified description, recompiles apps 
designed for the Android platform for use on the iPhone platform, 
circumventing the developer tools Apple provides." All of you on the 
mailing list know that this is not correct. XMLVM emits Objective-C 
*source code* and it even creates an Xcode project. XMLVM depends on 
Xcode and does *not* bypass it. I will reply to the Apple guy to explain 
this detail to him and to ask him if this means that XMLVM is still 
within the legal framework on the new SDK license agreement.

I will keep you posted.

Arno


---Below the verbatim mail from Apple University Liaison---

Let me clarify a few things that Arno has mentioned…

He is correct in that Apple recently clarified the Software Development 
Kit requirements for a variety of reasons.

To receive approval for an App on the App Store Apple requires 
developers to use the developer tools Apple provides when creating 
software for the iPhone OS devices, which includes the iPhone, iPod 
touch and iPad. Arno had created a tool that, in a simplified 
description, recompiles apps designed for the Android platform for use 
on the iPhone platform, circumventing the developer tools Apple 
provides. Apple has clarified the use of the development tools for a 
variety of reasons.

    1. Apple cannot guarantee that OS updates won't break unique ways 
vendors have implemented their independent development tools. Apple is 
innovating and advancing the platform very quickly.
    2. Apple cannot innovate as quickly if they're dealing with legacy 
support for third party compilers. If there's a problem with an 
application, Apple is seen as responsible for the problem not the 
vendor. For example, the forthcoming iPhone OS 4.0 will support 
multitasking capabilities through a variety of APIs for applications. To 
optimize this for the best user experience, battery life and 
functionality Apple can implement these things with the development 
tools provided and cannot help third party development tools take 
advantage of these features if they have implemented something in a 
different way. Since 2007 Apple has released 3 major OSes for the iPhone 
and the 4th will be released this summer. We're able to innovate quickly 
and add amazing features because we also provide the development tools 
to write software for these releases and new features so that developers 
can take advantage of them. Supporting other development tools would 
slow down innovation and as Apple has experienced in the past. Often, 
when relying on third party development tools, these can often lag in 
their upgrades by as much as a year or more. By that time Apple may have 
already released yet another major update to the OS.
    3. Apple thoroughly tests all applications submitted to the store. 
If an application is buggy, therefore potentially creating a poor user 
experience, this reflects on both Apple and the vendor when the App has 
been downloaded. Apple often identifies bugs in submitted Apps and helps 
the developer fix their problems before the App is available to the 
public. With Apple's testing tools we can control the environment and 
help the developers get the most out of the applications specific to the 
iPhone OS platform. If third party development tools were to be used 
Apple would not be able to effectively test the Apps and provide 
constructive feedback to the developer prior to posting a functional App 
on the App store.
    4. Apple sees the use of the development tools as a key way to take 
advantage of a variety of features built in to the platform. If a third 
party development tool is used to convert software used on multiple 
platforms, similar challenges to the write-once run anywhere paradigm 
are faced. This can, in some cases, result in a watered down software 
application that doesn't provide the advantages that any particular 
platform provides whether it's the iPhone OS, Windows Mobile, Android, 
Symbian, WebOS or other mobile platform OSes.


An alternative could be creating a tool that can convert software 
applications from other platforms and then utilizes the compilers for 
the iPhone to actually create the application. I'm not a programmer so I 
don't know how difficult or easy this would be. It could allow for the 
best of both worlds.

A few notes regarding iPhone development, specific to the relevancy of 
the iPhone OS platform, access to devices and consumers.

     * The iPhone Developer University Program has more than 1000 
universities and colleges who have joined the program from all over the 
world
     * There are more than 85,000,000 devices that have shipped that run 
the iPhone OS providing access to several million more potential customers
     * There are over 185,000 Apps available on the app store for a 
variety of reasons, including ease of development, ease of distribution 
and easy access to individual, small business or large enterprise 
developers. They have been downloaded more than 4 billion times in less 
than 2 years.
     * Apple changed the model for creating revenue for developers 
compared to any other development environment before it. Developers can 
sell as many Apps as they want for $99 per year. Apple keeps 30% of 
those revenues, which keeps the store up and running, provides bandwidth 
to download those Apps and eases the organization of those Apps.
     * Many students have created Apps in their Computer Science or 
Computer Engineering colleges and easily sold these through the App 
store. In some cases students have paid for their college tuition or 
started new company opportunities unthought of just 2 years ago.


This is a great article that discusses the App Store Economy. It was 
written in January and just shows how in just a few months these 
statistics are old:
http://gigaom.com/2010/01/12/the-apple-app-store-economy/

With less than 2 weeks on the market, just this afternoon a study 
showcased that already the iPad web used has rivaled Android and Blackberry:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/15/web_use_of_apple_ipad_already_rivals_android_blackberry.html

Please let me know if I can clarify any of the above items.

Thank you,