Months ago I posted an article explaining my opinion on Apple as a company that I passionately love and resepct, but also one that at times hurts its base by making overbearing decisions that punish users and developers.

However, as I’ve said before, to Apple’s credit they do listen when there’s an uproar. And point in case is the decision by Apple to drop the iPhone developer NDA. Now, here at Imulus we haven’t done first hand iPhone application development. But as technology advocates, developers of online software, and supporters of Apple products, we like seeing Apple make the right decision. There is no question that removing the NDA will make applications instantly better. In a nutshell it will allow developers to: exchange code samples, publish tutorials and techniques, as well as publicly talk about bugs and problems. Now instead of forcing developers to reinvent the wheel with basic iPhone functionality they can work on implementing standards for complex functions.

Apple also made the decision to restrict iPhone app reviews to actual purchasers of the app. Up to this point tons of people have been critiquing applications without ever using them. Leading to reviews that sounded like: “the app looks okay but it’s too expensive so I’m giving it a low score.” This is ridiculous. And Apple has made the right decision in allowing only users of the app to actually critique it. Another win for developers and users.

So cheers Apple, thanks for your support in making the platform better, even if it did take longer than it should have. The outcome will be worth it. Now, if only you’d give away the iPod touch 2.0 software for free to previous owners.