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Apple turns blind eye to 3rd-party apps
The folks at Apple have decided to look the other way with 3rd-party iPhone apps.
However, they note, accidents do happen...
Greg Joswiak, VP of iPod marketing for Apple told PC Magazine's Gearlog site that Apple takes a "neutral" stance on 3rd-party iPhone apps. Currently, software that runs through Safari is the only officially sanctioned way for outside developers to code for the iPhone.
Joswiak reportedly said that while Apple doesn't officially support or condone the development of 3rd-party apps, the company didn't expressly forbid it either.
Of course, there's a bit more to this story. After the post went up and had some time to sink in, Apple's media relations crew apparently stepped in and requested a few "updates" to the blog. (It's amazing how much more responsive Apple PR is when they want an edit/correction.)
First, Apple wanted to make damn sure people knew that while they may not hunt you down and break your scrolling fingers, Apple does not condone, or support, or even like the idea of 3rd-party iPhone apps.
A couple hours later, a second update went up. Apple just wanted to make it clear that, while they will not be writing any code to purposely disable 3rd-party apps, certain compatibility issues are inevitable.
In other words, feel free to write all the 3rd-party iPhone apps you want, but it's a pretty safe bet that before long an Apple software update will hose your precious iPhone app but good.
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