Apple’s Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy

@Steveruble pointed me to Apple’s Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy which is kind of what I had come to expect from Apple.

In short, it is a very hard turn down and this small snippet gives you an idea:

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TERMS OF IDEA SUBMISSION

You agree that: (1) your submissions and their contents will automatically become the property of Apple, without any compensation to you; (2) Apple may use or redistribute the submissions and their contents for any purpose and in any way; (3) there is no obligation for Apple to review the submission; and (4) there is no obligation to keep any submissions confidential.

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There is an on-going discussion on the openness of Apple. Their idea submission policy definitely provides more fodder for those who argue that Apple is more closed than open.

Although, I admire Apple and their products, I belong to the category that believes Apple is more closed than open which in my humble opinion is a negative thing.

One thing that strikes me is how hard it could be for Apple to open up should they decide to do so. I have no doubt that a policy like this one have a strong impact on their corporate culture when it comes to their view on external relationships.

I checked a few other Silicon Valley-based companies and while Apple turns us down hard, Intel at least provides some guidelines on what to do if you have unsolicited ideas.

More interestingly, I could not even find guidelines or policies on unsolicited ideas for Cisco and HP. Maybe they just don’t get any unsolicited ideas. Hey, then I would rather be in Apple’s position : – )