We just heard about the iPhone OS4.0 and the new Terms-Of-Service. While we believe we are fully compliant with these we are right now doing all we can to get this verified by Apple. As soon as we know precisely, we will of course share that info with everybody. Please hang tight while we get this sussed out.

Update: here is our blogpost with our view on the situation so far:

Here's an official statement regarding this question by our CEO David.

we believe we are fully compliant with these

I dearly hope so...but on what basis are you making this judgement?

Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript

Seems depressingly clear.

Guys don't worry. Unity compiles all the code down through Objective-C or straight C/C++ before it gets deployed, so even though you write your game in C#, the code is still compiled as Apple-approved C code. ;) This won't present any problems at all, and you shouldn't worry.

If Apple puts up a fight about this, it'll be bull* * * *, but I'm not worrying at all.

If this does mean that Unity can no longer be used to develop for the iPhone, I hope the Unity Team continues to make improvements for other platforms. Even without iPhone/iPad, Unity remains by FAR the fastest and easiest way to develop games for PC/Mac (and hopefully soon all consoles!)

This topic should be front and center of the Unity iPhone page.

To quote Hank Williams at http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2010/04/steve-jobs-has-just-gone-mad.html :

The key is where they say "Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++."

Take a pause and think about what that "originally" really means.

Developers are not free to use any tools to help them. If there is some tool that converts some Pascal or, Ruby, or Java into Objective-C it is out of bounds, because then the code is not "originally" written in C.

That's pretty clear, people. Without further clarification, Unity is out.

I was just about to resume working on my Unity iPhone app, and will now postpone that work until this is resolved one way or another.

I've written up 4 reasons to be optimistic on my blog: http://www.mindthecube.com/blog/2010/04/unity-iphone-versus-apples-developer-licensing-terms

Short summary: The language as written is very broad and impacts too many developers & publishers for Apple's own good. It is also difficult to enforce for games in particular. I firmly believe Apple will clarify it with a fairly narrow interpretation, or even revise it, but it might take a while to get the answer we want. In the meantime, take heart that: 1) Unity games are highly portable, and 2) Unity Technologies is very smart and will be doing their utmost to have a version of Unity iPhone that satisfies Apple's requirements.

El Jobso Replies (via Engadget)

He doesn't say much... but it's something I suppose. Should we be worried?

From TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Blog) http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/08/iphone-os-4-0-dev-agreement-blocks-using-flash-or-unity-as-ides/

We've heard directly from Unity Technologies themselves, and the company's CEO, David Helgason, has been in contact with Apple over the matter. Helgason says that so far Unity has "no indication from Apple that things are going to change." This is consistent with John Gruber's viewpoint on the new iPhone OS 4.0 dev agreement. Gruber originally thought that Unity3D would be a prime candidate for banning under the new rules, but given that Unity3D is, in Gruber's words, "a pre-processor than a cross-compiler," it's nowhere near as certain that Unity will fall on what Gruber calls "the wrong side of the line" per the new dev agreement.

That explains the problem pretty much. Yes at first everyone thought Unity was out, but the last time the same happened and Unity was not even near to be left out. This is the same, Unity Wins.

And I'm confident, as a Unity iPhone developer and Customer, they must be working right now to avoid uncle Steve's strange policy changes in the future. It will happen again for sure, because they will change their dev agreement one more time this year, or two maybe, like they always do; but so far, this shows us there is no way apple is going to left Unity out.

I will say it one more time: apple itself have chosen some great Unity based games as Best of 2009/8. They know we as a community of developers have a great value to them, so chill out ;)

There seems to be a minor update to this brouhaha

http://www.appleoutsider.com/2010/06/10/hello-lua/

Specifically this old language in 3.3.2:

No interpreted code may be downloaded or used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Documented APIs and built-in interpreter(s).

Is now this:

Unless otherwise approved by Apple in writing, no interpreted code may be downloaded or used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Documented APIs and built-in interpreter(s). Notwithstanding the foregoing, with Apple’s prior written consent, an Application may use embedded interpreted code in a limited way if such use is solely for providing minor features or functionality that are consistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application.

I would not worry and here is the reason why:

Steve Job's loves Unity and the Games that have made his platform THE platform. That's the easy version.

The real reason why I would not worry is as follows:

FLASH specifically CS5 which creates an application that can run on the iPhone does so using an Adobe API to create the file and never touches xCode. Unity compiles in xCode.

Even if it is c# it compiles out into objective-c and it would not be hard for Unity to make a converter if needed.

Steve Jobs shows off Tapulous in the OS4 Announcement. This was written in LUA. He is not into people profiting off of his work without adopting the platform and rightfully so. Adobe is trying to bypass Apple and Steve also does not want a bunch of crappy web applications - he wants creative imaginative people and companies that want to work with him.

Unity will be safe no worries. If I am right you can buy me a beer. If I am wrong I will buy you a beer.

To answer based on my knowledge of the mobile industry...

Apple's purpose is to try to make apps developed for iPhone ONLY be available on iPhone, thereby differentiating their product. That is the entire objective of the rule.

So Apple will allow Unity3D because it's currently in their interests.

Apple will only use this rule where they feel threatened and discourage cross-platform innovations like Unity3D ever starting (would UT risk starting it today, given the effort?).

So currently, Apple would not be too bothered by Unity3D.

But once Android and console development is possible with Unity3D, it'll become against Apple's interests.

Okay, maybe more of a prediction than an Answer. Plus I want that beer.