Facebook wipes out iPhone app access to its system

Filed under: Developer, Apple, Social Software

In a weird and unexplained turn-up for the books, Facebook has curtailed API access for a bunch of iPhone apps.

Information is pretty thin at the moment so it's impossible to say with certainty whether Facebook is acting alone, or as the scurrilous hatchet man of an over-zealous Apple -- but one thing's for certain, there seems to be little rhyme or reason for the app bans.

Speculation by CNET and the freshly-banned app developers points to trademark infringement -- the use of 'Facebook' in the app's name in 'Emoti for Facebook', for example -- but then there's 'iLoader', an app that simply has a non-stylised, non-trademarked 'f' in its icon.

I'm sure some more information will come to the fore, but for the time being we just have an amazing quote from a Facebook representative: "Applications that are in clear violation of our Platform policies around trademark infringement and affiliation will be removed from the App Store by Apple," she said in an e-mail. Apple is yet to respond to the situation -- but it sure sounds like this could be the beginning of Yet Another App Store Clean Up...

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Facebook wipes out iPhone app access to its system originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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