Apple 사는 iPhone 등 자사의 모바일 기기들에서 어떤 소프트웨어가 작동할 수 있느냐에 대한 통제를 이미 강력하게 만들어 놓고 있었으나 그것을 더욱 강화하고 있다. 이것은 외부 프로그래머들이 지켜야하는 규칙들에 최근에 가해진 변경들에 나타나고 있다.

The company is locked in a battle with other cell phone makers, particularly those using Google's Android operating system, for the latest and best applications that add functions to a phone.

이 회사는 다른 휴대 전화 제조업자들, 특히 Google의 앤드로이드(Android) 운영 시스템을 사용하고 있는 업체들을 상대로 전화에 기능을 추가하는 최신, 최량이 ‘애프’(app)들을 확보하는 데 있어서 치열한 경쟁을 벌이고 있다.

The new rules, released last week, say in part that app developers may only use Apple's programming tools. That is a problem for Adobe Systems, which announced a new package of tools on Monday that were meant to let developers create apps once and then automatically generate versions for the iPhone and other companies' devices.

Developers will also no longer be permitted to use outside services to measure how their applications are performing. The company says it will refuse to distribute any apps in the iTunes store that violate the new agreement. "Apple is doing everything to encourage app development, as long as it's on their platform," said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. "The risk Apple runs is ticking off developers and causing them to want to develop on other platforms," he said. But until competing mobile platforms gain more traction, he said, "there's no other place for developers to go, so Apple can call the terms however they want." The changes leave many startups and apps developers in limbo, waiting to find out whether their businesses, many of which have built a substantial clientele and taken money from venture capitalists, can still operate under the new rules. Munster said that the broader shift in Apple's core revenue streams, to mobile from desktop computing, was a chief reason for the company to pressure developers. "It's not about making money on the apps," he said. "It's about making money off the hardware." Mobile devices with more apps, he said, are more attractive to buyers. By the end of 2011, Munster said, nearly 50 percent of Apple's total revenue will come from sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch. In 2001, 80 percent of Apple's revenue was from its line of Mac laptops and desktop computers. That figure will slip to about 27 percent in 2011, he said.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment. But an iPhone developer named Greg Slepak sent an e-mail message to Apple's chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, saying that the new rules were "limiting creativity." "We've been there before," Jobs wrote in reply. "Intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces substandard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.... (ⓒ2010 The New York Times) (ⓒ2010 USA Briefing)

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