Apple won't let Commodore onto its baby

Ruling bodes badly for Spectrum

Apple has rejected a licensed Commodore 64 emulator application for the iPhone, citing its own rules that forbid virtual environments - something aimed more at Java developers than nostalgic gamers.

Publisher Manomio thought it was on to a good thing; cashing in on all those iPhone users still desperate to hear the congratulatory speech at the end of Impossible Mission, but despite apparently having the vocal support of Apple Europe, the completed application fell foul of the iTunes rules and won't be available.

The iPhone application rules are pretty clear on the subject of virtual environments, preventing anything that might download and execute code sourced from somewhere other than the Cupertino-controlled repository that is iTunes:

"An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

Which is why iPhone users don't see Java, Flash or anything else that might confuse them into looking elsewhere - including Commodore 64 games. ®