Apple has taken steps in its SDK licensing agreement to make sure that developers don't violate customer privacy with some kinds of location services, according to Carl Howe at Seeking Alpha on Monday. However, that may not be the end of the story for larger developers who have already protected themselves legally and may want to seek a separate license with Apple.

Mr. Howe, a noted follower of Apple marketing and financials, noted that the terms of the Apple SDK are under NDA. However, he provided his own non-legal, informal interpretation of Apple's SDK license that says that developers cannot violate consumer privacy with location data, enable stalkers in some fashion or route people or vehicles incorrectly and encourage them to be distracted by their iPhone while driving.

Recently the Wall Street Journal became alarmed that some developers won't be able to offer some cool services, like navigation maps. Mr. Howe pointed out that the SDK simply keeps the smaller developers, without liability coverage, from going overboard and protects Apple as well.

"So rest easy: you'll see location-based applications on the 3G iPhone. But expect those to come from companies like TomTom and Garmin that actually know their Anywhere liabilities instead of from Joe's Homebrew GPS and Beer Company," Mr. Howe concluded.