According to the Wall Street Journal, industry insiders are predicting that Apple will cave on the terms of the iPhone 4.0 SDK rather than be dragged into an antitrust battle over them.
Section 3.3.1 of the SDK famously prevents apps which have been written with third-party tools or interpreters from being distributed on the App Store. Most prominently, this kills any apps developed in Adobe Flash.
Needless to say, Adobe’s not pleased. But they aren’t the only ones: Section 3.31 also prevents apps from transmitting analytical data, which could also shut out rival advertising networks from Apple’s App Store.
It’s no secret that Apple wants to control the core tech of the way that apps are developed and even monetized… but they may have a fight on their hands. The FTC and DOJ are currently negotiating amongst themselves to decide under whose jurisdiction an Apple antitrust investigation would lie.
The question is, will Apple decide that preventing code interpreters a la Flash and competing mobile ad networks from coming to the App Store is worth an antitrust fight? I understand their issue with code interpreters, but iAd looks like an incredible deal for developers: I imagine it can compete without the measures hobbling competitors in the SDK. Will Apple, at least, throw the FTC a bone when it comes to advertising competitors?
