Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewswire for Web and iPhone, recently noted in his blog:

When I read that Apple’s solution to the problem of the negative press around apps being rejected from the App Store was to add an NDA warning, I thought it was satire. It couldn’t be true. But it appears to be true. If so, then someone is making a mistake. This behavior is definitely beneath the company that makes the software and hardware I adore and love developing for.

It seems odd to me that a company who knows so much about marketing, and does a lot of things right, begins to fail where it matters: at the user base, the people using Apple products, and creating products for Mac OS and iPhone.

This kind of reaction is a cry out loud; it reminds me of overreacting parents who are grounding his and her teenage daughter because she asked why she isn’t allowed to go out. This kind of message to the public is like saying “I don’t know what else to do!”.

The problem is, this kind of reaction fits in a row of recent observations with Apple, of a company which simply experiences too much success. Ever since the introduction of the iPod, and lately the iPhone, Apple is growing quickly. Not only as a company, also as a brand. From this brand, you don’t expect behavior that makes Microsoft look like a soft lamb.

Don’t you know this Apple? People are part of your brand experience.