Third-Party Music Apps Banned From iPhone SDK

With the wide availability of the iPhone SDK, both professional and amateur developers are having a field day with the kinds of applications they can develop for the popular cell phone. Unfortunately for some, it seems like Cupertino is putting some restrictions on what you can do with the SDK. For example, word is that they are banning all third-party music apps.

This makes business sense, I guess, because I’d imagine that Apple doesn’t want people developing applications that allow the iPhone to use competing online music services like Amazon, Napster and Rhapsody. They want you to stay iTunes-loyal, after all. Contrast this to allowing people to play some games. That seems fine, because Apple gets a 30% cut of sales.

At the same time, it sounds like Apple might be banning streaming services like Last.fm too because they lack iTunes integration. This part doesn’t make as much sense to me, but hey, that’s Jobs for ya.