Facebook for iPhone developer goes from Apple supporter to 'I quit!' in 3 months

If you're an iPhone user with a Facebook account, chances are good that you have Facebook for iPhone. In fact, it has roughly 17.3 million users, or about 28% of the 60 million users accessing Facebook on a mobile device.

One of the developers who worked on that app is Joe Hewitt, who today tweeted: "Time for me to try something new. I've handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer, and I'm onto a new project."

He's not just leaving the Facebook project, but abandoning the iPhone altogether.

Hewitt told TechCrunch today that he quit the project because of Apple's strict approval and management policies in the iTunes App Store.

He said: "My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple's policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer."

This is quite a turn of events, considering Hewitt's last blog entry in August said: "No matter how annoyed I get, I will not stop developing for Apple's platforms or using Apple's products as long as they continue to produce the best stuff on the market. I never forget how deeply Apple cares about making their users happy, and that counts more than how they treat their developers. Besides, when I have a problem with a friend, I don't threaten to boycott our friendship until they change, so I'm not going to do that to Apple either."

The developer he's handed the app over to is Owen Yamauchi, a Facebook software developer and former Apple engineer.