

Apple’s New Developer Agreement Unlevels the iAd Playing Field - eplanit
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/with-new-developer-agreement-apple-unlevels-the-iad-playing-field/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

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dminor
> The company told a developer whose app it was rejecting: "It is not
> appropriate for applications to gather user analytics. Specifically, you may
> not collect anonymous play data from a user’s game."

OK, that's pretty crazy if true.

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DenisM
I doubt the authenticity of this quote. Or maybe it was taken out of context.

For one, the agreement prohibits transmission of data to third parties, not to
the developer himself.

Another thing is that the new agreement is part of new SDK 4.0 and it is not
yet in effect - Apple does not accept 4.0 apps for app store distribution, and
so could not have reject an app on these grounds.

EDIT: apparently, it's the device data that I talk about above. User data is
governed under "need to know" rule: " _All use of User Data collected or
obtained through an Application must be limited to the same purpose as
necessary to provide services or functionality for such Application._ ". Not
as clear-cut as I thought... my second point still stands though.

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eplanit
They're not just a computer and software maker -- they're a TV station.

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emehrkay
Jeezus apple. You guys are going to kill your partners (the developers)

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tjmc
The Robot Chicken guide to Apple's developer relations:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=BwF7n8WyOoU&feature=rela...](http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=BwF7n8WyOoU&feature=related)

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edster
Wouldn't sending metrics to my own server still be the second party. In fact,
the device doesn't need to be involved at all. The server could record the hit
to its API from a device and generated the metrics entirely server side. I
assume one could do whatever they want with this data.

Presumably, one could justify creating a url connection to a server on the
internet for any reason, for example to let the server knows the users current
local time.

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shib71
I'm a little confused by the use of the term "third-party" in this context. In
these situations the first two parties are the User and either other Users
(for multi-user or social apps) or the application server (for client-server
type apps). Does that mean Apple itself (and iAd) is some kind of new zero-
party?

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allwein
Since this is the iPhone Developer Agreement we're talking about, Apple is the
first party. The developer agreeing to the agreement is the second party. Any
outside analytics company being used by the developer would then be the third
party.

