Re: [Fed-Talk] Q on CAC on iOS
Re: [Fed-Talk] Q on CAC on iOS
- Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] Q on CAC on iOS
- From: "Shawn A. Geddis" <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:11:37 -0400
On Sep 9, 2010, at 4:28 PM, Paul Nelson wrote:
> Shawn,
>
> Is Apple prepared to license to third party hardware developers for sale to the U.S. Government?
> Does the MFI licensing program cover devices to be sold to the U.S. Government?
>
> Paul Nelson
> Thursby Software Systems, Inc.
Paul,
Unless I am misinterpreting your message, it does not matter who your customer is (Commercial, Government, Consumer). It just matters whether it is self-contained or attempting to be middleware. Let me explain that a bit...to the best of my abilities...
The pieces (at a high level) are fairly simply:
1. Register in the MFI Program [1]
Program Benefits
• Technical Information
• Hardware connectors and components
• Testing Tools
• Technical Support
• Product Certification
• MFi Logos
• iPod, iPhone, and iPad compatibility icons
2. Register in iOS Developer Program [2]
(if developing Apps which communicate with iOS Accessories)
3. Build Hardware components
- lots of iterative work here...
4. Sell HW/SW Solution
- This is where you make your next $$$ million
One point to make that still stands as of today (except for some specific cases noted by Apple):
Third-party developers are unable to development and make available to the iOS Device any service as an iOS-wide service to other applications - "middleware".
So, if you are asking can Thursby Software Systems, Inc. develop Smart Card Middleware and sell that to the US Government then, my _unofficial_ response would be - not according to the current SDK and licensing terms. That would constitute third-party "middleware". However, Thursby Software Systems, Inc. could partner with company(ies) of their choice to provide a complete self-contained solution.
Remember, I am not a lawyer and will never pretend to play one even on YouTube, so make sure that you (or anyone else) always contacts and verifies with the MFI Program folks what they can and cannot do. Things change and what I or others say today may be true today, but may not be true tomorrow - Note the recent changes in the iOS Developer Agreement....
- Shawn
[1] http://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/
[2] http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/
_____________________________________________________
Shawn Geddis - Security Consulting Engineer - Apple Enterprise
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