iPad Developers Held To Strict Requirements [Development iPads Tethered To Tables, Locked In Rooms, Windows Sealed, Even Big-Name Partners Not Given Any Slack]

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I don’t know if you’ve heard about this iPad thing, but it’s getting pretty big. We’re less than a month away from the iPad’s release date and excitement over the tablet is pretty high. Developers who wish to develop applications for the iPad before the big launch day are being forced to jump through some pretty big hoops to get exclusive early access to the iPad.

The first hint of this strange Apple iPad secrecy was from media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, owner of the Wall Street Journal, was asked about Steve Jobs’ trip to his publication and the iPad in general. Murdoch revealed that the Wall Street Journal had only been given one iPad by Apple – and keep in mind that Wall Street Journal is a major international newspaper. Regarding the Wall Street Journal’s singular iPad, Murdoch said that the iPad was a tight “under padlock and key” and the proverbial key is “turned by Apple every night.”

More information has now come out regarding the strict guidelines placed on hopeful iPad developers. Before being allowed pre-release access to the device, developers are required to sign a 10-page NDA promising they won’t disclose any information about the iPad. NDA’s are nothing new in the tech industry, but it’s a bit odd that Apple would make them sign one considering Steve Jobs already revealed it on stage.

Hopeful iPad developers have to keep their iPad in an isolated room with blacked-out windows. The borrowed pre-release iPad must remained tethered to a fixed object at all times, too. Although the reporting article from Fudzilla doesn’t say, you’ve got to imagine that only the very top iTunes App Store developers are even getting entertained with the idea of being sent a pre-release iPad.

Once a developer has set up his blacked-out room with heavy fixed object and tether, you must then send photos of the iPad lair to Apple. Only then, will Apple send you a pre-release development iPad. None of this should be really shocking to anybody, after all, Apple is the company that sends their OEMs to beat up reporters.