Today, Apple announced that it was dropping its non-disclosure (NDA) agreement for iPhone developers. The announcement came in the form of a short letter posted to Apple's Developer Connection site. It reads:

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

While a pleasant surprise, Apple had no choice - really - but to kill NDA, which was not doing anything to help foster innovation. Developer's can now share ideas without fear of recrimination from Apple.

This is a problem in a smartphone world that's gotten far more competitive and open than the market Apple introduced the iPhone into back in June 2007. Although a lot of the credit can go to Apple and the iPhone, RIM's continues to do great, no matter what the stock market says, with several new and compelling devices on the near horizon as well, for example.

And then there’s Nokia's taking the Symbian platform open source, following the example set by Google's and its Android phone platform, which is less about hardware (although the first 'gPhone' - the G1 - was introduced recently by T-Mobile) and more about the delivery of software innovation and services.

The iPhone App Store is doing great, far better than anyone could have expected, but that won’t always necessarily be the case. Apple has shown that, in some areas, such as with iPhone software, that it has the capability to respond to the times and feedback.

For instance, at first Apple wasn't going to allow for the development of third-party apps that run on the iPhone itself, as opposed to over the Web through Safari mobile. Then it did after an outcry and the success of the jailbreak phenomena. Apple recently modified the user-review system in the App Store, so you actually have to use or download an app before posting feedback. The nixing of the NDA is the latest example.

Now if only Apple would stop refusing to post or take down certain apps from appearing in the App Store because they supposedly duplicate features it offers, which isn't always the case anyway. That would be another giant step toward making the iPhone platform more open, which would only help Apple, developers and consumers.