A recent iLounge report suggests that Apple may be planning a much more restrictive policy for its 3rd-party application distribution system than what was previously anticipated. iLounge reported that the iPhone SDK launch will be accompanied by a variety of restrictions on what kinds of applications can be created, where they can be sold, and what price developers can sell them for. Granted, we were fully expecting Apple to make a statement about this issue- this isn’t a company known for encouraging open standards on any of its devices. However, there are a few specific details that are important to note:

-All applications must be distributed through iTunes. Duh.
-Developers won’t be able to access the iPhone’s dock, meaning 3rd-party applications can’t communicate with their 3rd-party peripheral brethren
-Apple will have to clear every single application released through iTunes. Basically, if an application doesn’t please the Apple overlords, it won’t be distributed.

Bummer indeed. The only thing we can hope for at this point is for Apple to become a little bit more lax once users start demanding applications that do more than create a to-do list.

Via: iLounge

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