Roger Fingas
Apple has banned iFixit's developer account and pulled its app from the App Store after the repair firm dismantled a fourth-generation Apple TV dev kit it received as part of Apple's pre-release program.
That teardown violated Apple's terms for the developer program, iFixit admitted in a blog post. The company said it "weighed the risks" in advance and decided to do the work anyway. The ban was imposed a few days later.
iFixit took "actions that may hinder the performance or intended use of the App Store, B2B Program, or the Program," Apple wrote in a notification email.
The app was actually neglected for several months, and became buggy with the launch of iOS 9, iFixit commented. In the meantime the company has been working on its mobile website, and has no plans to rewrite the dedicated software, though it suggested that people could easily adopt its APIs to build their own. An Android app is still available in the Google Play Store.
Although the new Apple TV won't officially launch until sometime in October, Apple recently sent out pre-release hardware to lucky developers. The program was intended to kickstart development of tvOS apps, given that the platform was only announced on Sept. 9.
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
72 Comments
iFixit were a bunch of dicks for knowingly violating the NDA and posting the teardown so they could profit from page hits
What were Apple thinking iFixit would do with the unit in the first place? Of all the developers Apple could have sent it to, iFixit must be one of the least deserving.
I am a bit disappointed as iFixit was wrong in their action and it is the risk they took (I would have thought they are much smarter than this). Though I do enjoy iFixit work as it has helped me a lot when I am fixing and upgrading my Mac products. I hope they sort this out with Apple.
Fair enough, iFixit gambled and lost.
They knew it was a gamble and seem to have taken it the right way.
Hehe- of all the company's whose NDA you don't eff with...