Feeling screwed over by Apple
10 months ago
If you're a developer outside the U.S., and you build an app with the iPhone SDK, you can't test it on your own iPhone or iPod Touch.
Yep, you heard right. Only U.S. developers can actually run iPhone apps that they've built.
To be able to install your app on your iPhone or iPod touch, you have to sign up to the U.S. only developer program. The only clue as to when they're going to open it up to the rest of the world is some fine print that says: "The iPhone Developer Program will initially be available to a limited number of developers in the U.S. and will expand to other countries in the coming months."
I can understand that Apple isn't ready for overseas developers to distribute their apps through iTunes; there are plenty of infrastructure and legal things to sort out there. What I can't understand is why on earth I'm not even allowed to start building and testing an app!
I've complained to Apple about this, and if you're thinking about doing iPhone development, you should too.
At least I didn't pre-order an iPod Touch in preparation for the SDK release, like a couple of people I know.
Comments
wow, is that definitely the case? did they get back to you after your complaint? that's a pretty stunning flaw in their otherwise impressive SDK launch, methinks. blogging it now...
Yep, it's definitely true. You can read for yourself the fine print under the "Apply Now" button on the signup page.
My attempt to sign up got me an email that said:
From various reports on the tubal interweb, it sounds like they're releasing it pretty slowly to U.S. developers too.