iPhone SDK first thoughts
Thursday, March 6th, 2008I haven’t even downloaded the SDK yet, but many of my questions can be answered from simply reading the documentation and license agreement.
1) How does File System access work?
From the FAQ:
How do I write information locally?
You can write to your application's local storage area.
From the Agreement:
An Application may write data on a device only to the Application's designated container area, except as otherwise specified by Apple.
So each application is sand-boxed. You cannot modify data from another application; for example, to edit the Notepad database, access iTunes media, etc.
2) What is Apple’s policy on using undocumented frameworks, classes or functions?
The SDK is great, but us developers have already reverse engineered the iPhone and know the iPhone OS inside and out. Can we still use routines we know about?
From the Agreement:
Applications may only use Published APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any unpublished or private APIs.
You are only allowed to do what is specified in the SDK manual. Anything else is completely off limits. Imagine if they had this rule on the Mac, just how stable things would be 
3) How picky will Apple be about UI design?
From the Agreement:Applications must comply with the Human Interface Guidelines and other Documentation provided by Apple.
We are sorry to inform you that your app has been declined for inclusion in the App Store. Reason: Your app scored a 4.3 for Aesthetic Integrity. An Aesthetic Integrity score of 5 or higher is required. Please try again later.
4) What’s the problem with having to get your apps approved by Apple?
You have to play by their rules. Kind of takes some of the fun out of it.
