Fred von Lohmann, EFF’s senior staff attorney, has been through the agreement and calls it “very one-sided contract, favoring Apple at every turn.” Some of the troubling aspects of the agreement that has come under von Lohmann’s scrutiny are:
Ban on Public Statements
App Store Only
Kill Your App Any Time
We Never Owe You More than Fifty Bucks
How can Apple get away with imposing such heavy-handed restrictions on developers?
Because it is the sole gateway to the more than 40 million iPhones that have been sold. In other words, it’s only because Apple still “owns” the customer, long after each iPhone (and soon, iPad) is sold, that it is able to push these contractual terms on the entire universe of software developers for the platform.
It’s all down to competition, or the lack of it:
In short, no competition among app stores means no competition for the license terms that apply to iPhone developers.
von Lohmann then goes on to accuse Apple of acting like a “feudal lord” rather than a “leader.”
If Apple wants to be a real leader, it should be fostering innovation and competition, rather than acting as a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord. Developers should demand better terms and customers who love their iPhones should back them.
