iPhone News: App Store woes, international news, O2 best operator award, battery lawsuit dropped, WebKit passes Acid3 test

Latest iPhone News: Friday 26th September 2008

More App Store woes

I've already had my say about what's wrong with the iPhone App Store, and it seems the woes continue for rejected developers.

Firstly, the developer of Podcaster, rejected by Apple because it duplicated some functionality of iTunes, has had some of his developer privileges removed by the company because he tried to sell it to individual users using the "Ad Hoc" method.

Granted, that's not what the mode was designed for, but it does show that Apple wants to keep a really strong hold on what's being used on the iPhone. Effectively, if it's not in the App Store (and it's not a beta test version or a specific piece of enterprise software for a company) then it's not going on the iPhone (officially, at least).

Alex Sokirynsky has said that he will probably start developing for the Android platform instead, as it's much more open, and he "will be welcomed instead of being walked all over".

Second up, Pragmatic Programmers has pulled a development book because Apple has not lifted its NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) on the iPhone 2.0 software.

"Normally, pre-release NDA's such as this one are lifted when the product finally ships," Pragmatic Programmers wrote. "We expected that this NDA would be lifted when the iPhone 2.0 software shipped, but it wasn't. The September announcement came and went, and still the NDA remains in place. It now appears that Apple does not intend to lift the NDA any time soon. Regrettably, this means we are pulling our iPhone book out of production."

According to reports, developers aren't allowed to discuss anything about their relationship with Apple, including the contents of rejection letters, and even sharing coding tips with one another. That's a very bizarre way to encourage a developer community.

It's going to be interesting to see how this continued "iron fist" stance affects the iPhone App Store in the light of more lenient systems like Android. Will developers walk away from Apple after investing both finances and time into the development programme?

International iPhone

The iPhone launches in Turkey today with mobile operator Turkcell. Latvia and Lithuania also get the phone through TeliaSonera.

The iPhone will be sold in Russia from 3rd October via MTS, Vimpelcom, and Megafon.

China Mobile has apparently called for Apple to disable various functions of the iPhone, including 3G and Wo-Fi. This is apparently because laws don't yet approve use of these high speed networks, but could also be to stop users unlocking the iPhone for use on China Telecom's existing W-CDMA network.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Apple is selling unlocked iPhones to be activated with any network carrier, even though it initially launched in July through Hutchison Telecom.

O2 wins Best Operator award

O2 UK has won the Best Operator award at last night's Mobile Entertainment awards, thanks in part to the iPhone, which apparently played a role in the judges' decision.

Apple off the hook on battery lawsuit

Sense has prevailed, and Apple won't be sued because of limited battery life claims.

"Apple disclosed on the outside of the iPhone package that 'the battery has limited recharge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by Apple service provider'," US District Judge Matthew F Kennelly wrote. "Under the circumstances, no reasonable jury could find that deception occurred."

WebKit passes Acid3 test

The Acid3 test is created by the Web Standards Project and measures how well web browsing software displays current web standards.

Safari's WebKit got a 100% score on the test page, along with Opera's Presto engine. Additionally, recent improvements in handling of JavaScript ensured that it passed the test of rendering smooth animation.

This doesn't mean that the current version of Safari implemented on the iPhone and desktops is perfect, with version 3.1.2 currently having a score of 75. However, better versions could be on the way soon.

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