Wired is reporting that the reason for Apple’s recent dramatic change in the developer agreement for creating apps was pressure from the FTC. Apparently the commission has been talking to a number of app developers about restrictions imposed by Apple. Wired’s source is Hampton Catlin, who is the lead mobile developer for Wikimedia, and has made a dictionary app.
The FTC wanted to know if restricted the development platform to objective C limited app developers in their abilities to develop for multiple platforms, a move that might be deemed as anti-competitive.
Neither the FTC or Apple would comment, but the threat of an FTC probe might well have been enough to get Apple to change. Or maybe they just wanted to attract more developers who might otherwise work for Android or Windows Phone 7.
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