For a long time, developing software for the iPhone seemed like a members-only activity. Even when Apple introduced the App Store and released the SDK for public download, the iPhone developing club still seemed pretty exclusive.
A majority of this secrecy was forced upon developers by way of Apple's Non Disclosure Agreement: a binding contract that said anything developers came across while programming iPhone software 'better not leave the room'. Apple claims this was to protect many inventions and innovations embedded into the iPhone software.
But as we all know, after hearing all the moans and groans from developers, and probably reading thousands of angry blog posts, Apple has removed the NDA. In fact, Apple is now planning to tour the world with seminars and workshops for iPhone developers of any skill level from independent game developers, to IT professionals.
But the benefits don't stop there. Now with the NDA lifted, several Authors are given the green light to publish books on iPhone developing. Alicia mentions one of the more popular ones here, set to be released the 15th of this month. Another one, Beginning iPhone Development, is due out the 27th. In fact, a quick search in Amazon for the topic 'iPhone development' brings up a long list of new iPhone-programming-related books due to release in the next month.
I can't imagine the improvements we'll see in the quality and complexity of future iPhone applications. Hopefully this will encourage Apple to drop another rediculous App Store practice ::cough:: App store rejection policy ::cough::