So say you’re really into Jersey Shore. And you want to make a phone like the duck phone in the show. And you’re like “Why not make an app that quacks like a duck and makes your phone quack like a duck?” Heck, it’s a free country, as far as you can tell. This is what our grandfathers fought the Battle of the Bulge for, right?
Well the cheese-eaters at Apple will say that your dumb quack app “contains minimal user functionality” and, as a result, deny your application to rock out on their App Store.
Friends, that’s exactly what happened to Nick Bonatsakis of Atlantia Software after submitting a new app called QuackPhone last week and getting this reply:
“Dear Atlantia Software LLC,
We’ve reviewed your application DuckPhone and we have determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store.
If you would like to share it with friends and family, we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing or if you believe that you can add additional user functionality to DuckPhone we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.
Sincerely,
iPhone App Review Team”
Now last time I checked this was America and if we in America want to spend our money on 99 cent apps that make duck noises, then by gar, that’s our gar-given right. Not so and our outrage should be boundless. As Nick writes:
This is a line I had hoped would not be crossed, but sadly it has been. I’m not sending this email because the world will be deprived if they can’t experience this application, but rather, in hopes that some or all of you will publish this story so that the public at large continues to hear about the ridiculous behavior of Apple in matters such as these. As time goes on, this platform is becoming more of a burden on developers, this will in turn lead to talented people moving on to more open platforms. In the end, the customer loses, and I sincerely hope Apple will realize this.
Amen, Nick. A line has been crossed. When a man can’t bring his duck app to to market because of a capricious decision by a fixie-riding Californian App Store Review Team Member in a tight t-shirt and jeans ensemble then a man needs to do something. God speed you, Nick, and your duck app. Don’t give up on this. You can be the Rosa Parks of duck apps.
Seriously, Apple, WTDuck? It’s a friggin duck phone. As I said before, this is an image thing, not a “porn” thing or “dumb app” thing. Apple wants a pristine App Store and will get it at any cost.
The reasons that they come up with for rejecting apps are just getting more and more ridiculous
on one hand they are users complaining that app store is full of spam apps and useless apps. and yet they are people defending the fact that developers should be allowed to spam the app store
it is a senseless and pointless argument. at the end of the day, if you are not happy then don’t use an iphone. if you are using an iphone then dont complain
The problem is having a single store controlled by a single company.
People should be able to point their iphone to another store and buy from there. Obviously Apple will never allow that.
Shop elsewhere then!
This actually isn’t that new. One of my friends made an app that makes a doorbell sound and it was rejected for this same reason. This was on January 28th. He added more sounds and it was accepted. It’s called iDingDong. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idingdong/id355166263?mt=8)
the reason is ridiculous…
we must thanks apple
(http://www.udtek.com)
^&*!!!!!
+1. There are lots of different types of duck, so the developer can add all their different quacks and get accepted. Problem solved.
What a bunch of JERKS. Anybody should be able to sell any app that they want to create. WTF.
PS: Ok, so Apple has the right to control what goes into their store. So let people buy apps off the web!!! DUH.
Selling from the AppStore (or any other store) is Permission Based and not a Privilege.
Just try to walk down your local Safeway and setup a lemonade stand and see what happens — im sure Safeway will “reject” that as well — that is unless you got their permission first.
Finally Apple is starting to show some guts. Someone should build a USELESS APP FILTER for the store and make our browsing experience better.
It’s their store. The app is retarded. My thumb thanks apple.
“It’s their store. The app is retarded.” we know that. What do you think might be the big picture here?
+3-√4
The big picture is they can choose whatever they want to be in their store…oh and that we get to read another one of these boo hoo articles about an app rejection.
Chicken-app here ^^ :)
+[division by zero* warning: Division by zero on line
1.]
That’s right, you get 0 points for that idiot comment.
Some of us don’t want a nannygoat hovering over our shoulders telling us what we can and can’t install. If I want something as idiotic as a duckphone I should be able to have it.
Is this app really any more useless than the dozens+ virtual cigarette lighters? nope!
So stop defending Apple you quack! Get it? I called you a quack….because the articles is about ducks…. … .. do you get the thing? quack?
John, did your grandfathers fight in the Battle of the Bulge?
I wonder if all those fart apps will be pulled after this…
Wasn’t iFart the most popular app for like three solid months following the release of the iPhone 3G?
Not the same. Some people (I have a friend like this) think that farts are just the funniest thing. The iPhone already has a quack ring tone. Therefore Apple doesn’t want to fill their app store with crap. Good move by Apple. For once I agree with them.
God willing.
No, in fact I specifically asked that question the Apple rep. They said that these changes are for only new apps that are being submitted to Apple, but the old spam will live on.
Kudos to Brighthouse Labs for getting in their mass amounts of useless apps before Apple changed their policy or at least, started to enforce it.
Oh Brighthouse Labs.. I worship your spam volume creation abilities. Does anyone in your org happen to be good at skiing at an Olympic level?
Seriously, check out their volume. They are keeping Apple’s application testers employed.
http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?entity=software&media=all&page=1&restrict=true&startIndex=0&term=brighthouse+labs
This is down right anti-competitive behavior which needs to be reported to the government.
We need the government to force the Apple app store to be an open standard such as the internet.
You’re kidding right? If you opened a store you have the right to sell the products you want, if someone has a crappy product, you just don’t have to sell it.
Yes, but if you open a store, across from an apartment complex, and then make a deal with the apartment complex management saying that tenants have to agree in the lease to only buy groceries from your store, or risk being kicked out, then you have just broken the law.
If you go further, and open a chain of stores everywhere the property management company has apartments, and make this agreement at all of the complexes, then not only is it extortion, but a pattern of racketeering, or, put in multi-national corp. speak, anti-competitive behavior.
You analogy doesn’t hold up, specifically because Apple FORCES you to use their store on their device. If you buy their device, you are not allowed to use any other store, that is called product tying, and while not automatically illegal, when used for anti-competitive advantage, is a violation of the law.
But Apple doesn’t force you to buy their product and there are plenty of alternatives.
Yeah, I think that was Microsoft’s defense too. Didn’t help them much.
Well put.
What if Intel wakes up one day and forces all their hardware users to buy applications at best buy, or Microsoft allowing you to buy only the software that they approve ? I mean Microsoft could not even get away with installing their browser in Europe, how can this hold with apple is beyond me.
Nonsense. Apple’s not forcing you to buy their phone, and you’d have to be a complete retard not to know the restrictions. To go with your analogy, no one’s forcing you to live in that building when there’s a perfectly fine alternative next door. However, if you CHOOSE to live in that building because you absolutely MUST have that laundry room, then you have to take the other restrictions as well.
I lived in a development where we HAD to buy a mailbox from one and only one source. They cost $500!
Completely legal.
+1
pwnt
are you the same Khalid, who had like 900 load of junks and copy right violations Apps. Basically picture of celebrities, and had coded news into $5 Apps?
http://iphonetouch.blorge.com/2009/11/01/app-store-spammer-khalid-shaikh-indicted-by-fbi/
Do you mean the Khalid Shaikh that spammed the iTunes app store and then proceeded to DOS the company he founded?
The fact that it’s a “free country” has nothing to do with Apple denying apps from THEIR store, if you don’t like it, go somewhere else. They don’t have to do anything you tell them too, and the app store does not qualify as public property…
I’m a iPhone user. I want this app on my phone. Apple is preventing that. I would have gone to some other store. But Apple is preventing that as well. I could have gone to a different phone. But AT&T is preventing that. Can you help?
I think it makes sense to organize into an action committee that escalates these issues to the highest levels including the FCC.
Apple demonstrates clearly anti-competitive behavior that harms the end user. We need Apple to follow more open standards and if regulation is a must, then so be it.
It is unacceptable in this era of openness that Apple with top line revenues exceeding $42B with $25B cash on hand to harm the user in such a manner as denying applications.
This stops tax revenue from being collected and overall harms the US economy.
Haha, Khalid you sound like a complete moron. It’s people like you that think everyone owes you something that ruin this world. Apple can do whatever it wants with it’s own damn store, and the FCC can’t do jack. Litigation isn’t the answer to anything. They rejected a useless app. Maybe they’re are tired of their store being cluttered with junk. The only people they have to answer to are their shareholders, and you can leave it to them to complain. Go crack your phone if you want freedom, and stop being a baby.
@Khalid Shaikh, you must be smoking some quack!
I for one hope Apple cleans up all the quack out there. Or for all of you quack-heads, maybe Apple could just make another category – “Junk For Quack-Heads”.
Good points going the right direction, but AT&T isn’t stopping you from choosing a new device to use. We may be unhappy with the cost, but no one is stopping us from buying a new GSM phone and putting it on our account.
(Just because one isn’t eligible to receive an upgrade discount on a device doesn’t mean they can’t buy one outright and pop in their SIM chip, thus, AT&T isn’t stopping them.)
The only reason for one to stick with AT&T might be the iPhone. And now that Apple is resorting to such tactics people might no longer want the iPhone and hence by extension AT&T. Maybe they want a Droid on Verizon. But if you attempt to move to Verizon AT&T will slap you with a contract breach. Hence, even though indirectly, AT&T is preventing a smooth move.
(I know I’m making the situation fit my argument, but you get the point)
@Lee: and nobody prevents you from not using Windows, and yet people complain about “anti-competitiveness” of Microsoft.
How would you like it if Microsoft got to decide what applications you could run? Ohhh, we would not hear the end of it.
XBOX 360 and PS3 are no different. Why aren’t people crying foul that users are locked in to those stores to buy downloadable content from the device? Presumably MS and Sony also employ some sort of quality control and have final say over what content is sold.
@isotonic
Because Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have very clear guidelines for their game console approval process. Before you even start developing the game, you know what criteria need to be met, and the approval process is open and predictable. No one has ever been refused release on those platforms because the platform owner in question just didn’t like their game, or because the game “duplicated functionality” of a first-party title. Furthermore, neither of those three companies has the right to pull said approval AFTER the title has been released and is already generating revenue.
^^ What he said.
@Gavin. This Anti-competitive behavior was the exact thing that got all kinds of anti-trust lawsuits filed against M$ in the mid 90′s. Why is it that the U.S. govt lets Apple do whatever they want? They make a great product but because they go after any competition who tries to legally use their operating systems they have created a monopoly. The fact that if I want a machine that runs Leopard I have to buy it from apple makes me a PC user. However, if HP is charging too much for a certain laptop, I am able to purchase something similar from another company. I think all those who took a drink from the Apple Koolaid will soon start to see what kind of heartless, uncompetitive company they support.
I pay taxes, and I want my street to be the first on the block with repairs and new trees. Guess what? Tough shit. I’m not the only one in the city.
pwnt v.2
A “store” has the right to choose merchandises it wants to sell. According to your non-sense logic, I should have the right and freedom to sell my used socks full of sweats and holes at Saks Fifth.
that’s great logic. so i guess next time you buy a Saks Fifth you should have the right to do with it whatever you want. Oh yeah, you forgot, apple doesn’t own the device, YOU do. Does your logic-addled brain see where this leads? If i buy a device, I own both that piece of hardware and that particular copy of the OS. What apple is doing is illegal and will eventually be recognized as such. the apple-holics continually crack me up with their willingness to swallow fascism whole.
Desciples of the cult of Mac are not known for their smarts, but for their for their willingness to blindly follow.
Thats because Steve Jobs took a company management seminar from Jim Jones.
“If i buy a device, I own both that piece of hardware and that particular copy of the OS”
You should read iPhone and iTunes EULA
-1. Bullshit. If someone steals your iPhone, you’re going to call the police. You’re not to say, “That’s OK, I didn’t really own it anyway, let Apple worry”.
I agree. And Microsoft should never be forced to decouple the web browser from the OS or be forced to run a web browser ballot at startup.
Seriously? Like 90% of the apps in the app store offer “minimum user functionality.” Seems like one of the reviewers just got frustrated after having to approve all of the fart (and other useless) apps…
While I was a bit facetious in this post – I don’t think duckphone should exist, let alone be sold to the poor mental deficient who is bound to stumble on it – it’s a pretty hilarious reason for banning an app. I also suspect Apple is reducing the number of dumb iPhone apps because these selfsame Apps will like like absolute crap on the bigger screen of the iPad.
i guess the whole point of the article, then, was that your opinions and tastes matter but other people’s don’t. that makes you sound like a really swell guy, i say go with it. and for the record, as useless as that app sounds, it would be pretty damn hilarious to have your phone quack in a doctor’s office.
This would make more sense if there weren’t already multiple fart apps in the iTunes App Store.
Ding ding ding
Fart apps OK, Duck apps Not OK. Where’s the duck lobby when you need them?
The problem is lack of credible competition. If Google or another company managed to eat into Apple’s market they may not be so restrictive. But it seems more often than not they manage to shoot themselves in the proverbial foot with poorly executed products.
This is prejudice against my kind. I have consulted with my lawyer and friend Daffy and will be taking the appropriate legal actions.
That weally quacked me up. :-D
The fart apps that I’ve seen actually have a lot more functionality. Different types of farts, sneak attack (timed to go off when it is someone else’s pocket), security fart (goes off when someone picks it up), record-a-fart…
Childish stuff to be sure, but a far cry from an app that makes one quack sound. As the email said, “if you believe that you can add additional user functionality to DuckPhone we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.”
Hey, I want that app!!!
Apple made the right decision this time round. Ridiculous App, and as Apple put it, adds no functionality to the user.
While I certainly dont agree with a lot of Apples App Store decisions, this one, i think they got right.
But who are you or Apple to say what offers functionality to me.
Yeah it’s their store blah blah blah and they have the right to sell what they want just like walmart won’t sell explicit cds blah blah blah thing is I don’t HAVE to go to walmart, I can just drive down the road to Best Buy and no using Safari for web apps is not the same thing.
What would you do if you could only get your car serviced at the dealer, or only use the e-mail provided by your ISP. It’s their car, it’s their network, they can do whatever they want.
Things like this are the exact reason I’m losing my interest in Apple products (at least those I cannot personally fine tune without fear of bricking it from an update).
I love personalizing my Mac Products, but typically don’t use iTunes or associated crud ’cause I don’t want to get locked into what “apple” thinks is appropriate for me.
Gunna have to stick to my old Macs for fear of losing personal control. :)
Arguments aside– I am fully educated on how to personalize my pods and such, I just don’t enjoy the bricking (or similar removal of what I’ve added) ’cause “it’s not approved” on a device I paid for and is rightfully mine to with what I please.
You are a minority
Which doesn’t invalidate his point or make him wrong. Fanboys are so tiresome; just because you enjoy not owning your product and being unable to do things with it that similar devices from other companies can do out of the box doesn’t mean everybody has to go baa-baa just like you.
Just a little fyi, I don’t have a iPhone.
“Just because you enjoy not owning your product and being unable to do things with it that similar devices from other companies can do out of the box”
You sound like the fanboy, just for another manufacturer.
I’m sure when the next iPhone is released consumers will be in a fix deciding whether to buy it because of the app store approval process and the closed nature of the platform. Mug.
This rejection reason isn’t new…
First time I’ve seen it. It’s also new to most people.
Not even close to new. A quick google search for “Minimal User Functionality” would’ve brought you across this page:
http://www.apprejected.com/?p=29
posted almost 9 months ago. Also, it’s “minimal” not “minimum” like you posted as the title…
Apple should have every right to pick and choose what apps it are willing to sell in *their* app-store, using whatever rules it wants.
Users should have every right to be fully aware of these rules and limitations. Users who don’t like these rules and limitations should feel free to shop someplace else.
Makers of phones that support more open platforms such as Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, WebOS, bada, Maemo, and others are all perfectly happy to sell smartphones to those who discover that the iPhone (and its restrictions) isn’t quite what they’d wanted.
You want to encourage Apple to open its store and its standards? Stop acting like iSheep, stop whining that you don’t like the way Apple manages its own store, and *show* Apple what happens to stores that impose arbitrary restrictions that frustrate users.
And, in the meantime, look around at the growing alternatives…
But I paid my membership fee, reviewed their rules and saw nothing that would cause my app to be rejected. I even reviewed similar apps that had already been approved before making my investment in hardware and software. Now Apple has changed the rules, which is their right, but what about mine? Can I get my money back?
- signed, iSheep develper.
RWalrond,
“Users should have every right to be fully aware of these rules and limitations.”
This should include developers. If Apple’s rules and limitations aren’t clear, or seem to keep changing, then I’d suggest that you’re developing for the wrong service, and you might want to look for another app platform to contribute to where you’ll be treated better and more fairly.
Whether or not you can get your developer membership fee back probably depends on the agreement you made with Apple when you paid it, but, offhand, I doubt it. It sounds as though Apple was pretty vague on their side of the terms, giving them valid leeway to do pretty much whatever they want.
Hopefully, as more developers realize this (and its implications), Apple will find itself with fewer contributing developers, and will adapt accordingly to try to woo some of them back. Of course, if the developers stay developing for Apple in spite of these issues, then they get what they agreed on…
Exactly, just ask Facebook developers.
I think apple is wrong for being a bit ambiguous in their terms, leaving many developers unexpectedly having their apps pulled from the app store.
They should do something about this. That is where the real problem is, imo.
I would also like to think I understand what apple is doing here.
Two words: quality control.
Similar to the rejection that I got for an app:
“Your content may be considered merely promotional or too sparse.
Considering adding more content related to your industry or tips for consumers.”
This is for an application that is for an apparel manufacturer which shows the catalogs, twitter feed, videos, store locator, etc…
Sounds like the reviewer was right on the money, then. An application for an apparel manufacturer which shows the catalogs, twitter feed, videos, store locator, etc., is marketing dreck no matter how much you want it to be awesome. It’s a website repackaged into an “app” — which is a stretch of that term.
That would be fine with me if there weren’t hundreds of other apps that do nothing more than that. When it comes down to it, the fact that there are no guidelines set in stone by which developers can go by is the problem here.
We worked on the app for several weeks and to have it rejected for that reason is concerning to us. The issue is that there are no guidelines and no one to speak to when trying to get anything approved. The suggestion from Apple was to add more content that is relevant to the industry.
Artists that have apps created that have their music streaming are nothing more than PR and advertising campaigns yet those are okay. Artists that display albums of images are also just that.
So can this developer get his $99 back? Sure it’s Apple’s app store, sure they can decide what gets rejected, but I didn’t remember seeing these kind of App guidelines when I signed up. if you change the rules and now this developers $99 becomes useless, can he reject Apple and get his money back?
Apple does not refund the $99. It is part of their criminal behavior.
And somehow the Apple Fans will find this acceptable. I’m an iPhone developer and I have paid my $99 for the last 2 years, but I’m really hoping that something else catches fire and gives these guys some competition.
I find less crap is better than more crap. Reject the crap, I say. And so do 99.9993412% of the paying users.
Yep, less crap is better, but then Apple needs to define what “Crap” is so a developer will know if they want to sign up or not. Don’t take our money and then change the rules and tell us we can’t get our money back. Hey, developers are people too :)
Use a little common sense. If it smells like crap, it’s crap. If it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
One man’s crap is another man’s treasure. Common sense would say that Apple needs to list their rules and be consistent when enforcing them. It doesn’t seem like too much to ask for.
Hmm, and “A Hands Heater” is one of the top apps in the app store right now?
Either let them all pass, or none.
I have to say that I do believe it’s Apple’s choice to ban apps even though they are doing it very stupidly in my opinion.
However, it does have ramifications. It will just result in more developers choosing not to develop apps for the iPhone (or iPad) since they will have no way to know if their efforts will be wasted because some app reviewer is having a bad day (or life). It will also result in at least some people choosing a phone that is less restrictive.
I think it’s ironic that Apple has become what their 1984 commercial was saying that they were not.
This will all play out competitively. Android is coming on strong and the store / payment structures are much more flexible. Apple’s approach reminds me of why they hit the skids back in the 90s – over control and a dash of arrogance from early success.
Yep… I had exactly the same response a month ago… The strange thing is that I downloaded more than one app that gave even less “functionalities” than the app that was being rejected…
Anyway, we are developing a new version with more “functionalities”…
I am with the ‘cheese eaters’ at apple with this one. we have enough pointless apps on the apple store. if anything they should clean up some other apps that don’t contribute anything. thanks apple team
This is not at all a new reason. There have been several high-profile apps rejected under this rationale in the past.
Ka-Ching (from one of the fart app developers you cited in your article and recently made notable for becoming a sweepstakes app): http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/29/video-mr-ifart-appeals-to-steve-jobs/
Bedeviled: http://howtomakeiphoneapps.com/2009/07/the-most-diabolical-app-success-story-ever/
AppReview lists this under Apple’s “unpublished rules” and notes that “we get this a lot”: http://appreview.tumblr.com/post/156741025/must-have-more-than-minimal-user-functionality
Here’s one from May 2009: http://binarymoustache.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/limbo/
And February 2009: http://shortpath.blogspot.com/2009/02/apple-is-removing-apps-from-store-again.html
Surprised you hadn’t heard of it…
This is not new. I seem to recall this was the reason they gave for rejecting the I am Rich app a couple years ago – and the subsequent I am Poor app that came out later.
I could be wrong about those two, but I know I’ve seen that reason reported on before. Frankly I wish they would do more of this – or at least improve search for the app store. There are so many crApps in there its impossible to find quality without a lot of work.
What’s more ridicolous than the crappy app is that the guy actually has an LLC. I guess he doesn’t want to be sued for selling an “app” that’s 2 lines of code and does nothing useful.
I am a big anti-Apple person usually, but this gets a huge thumbs up from me.
I am thinking about developing mobile apps after developing websites since the 90s and computer apps since the 80s. I was thinking about the iPhone but I keep finding new reasons why I should avoid it.
I don’t own any Apple products, so I would have to buy an Apple Mac computer. I would also have to buy an iPhone, and I would also have to pay to join the developer program. So there is a fair amount of upfront costs.
Although I know over a dozen programming languages, Objective-C is not one of them. It is not used for anything else other than Apple so why did they choose this language? It is another barrier to entry.
Compare this to Android. I already own a PC, as most people do. I do not have to pay to join a developer program. I already know Java, as many developers do. I won’t have to wait a long time to have apps reviewed with a possibility of no reply, rejection, or later removal. Android is selling similar amounts of phones as the iPhone and the Android technology is clearly better.
With all these facts I can see the Android getting more developers and apps than the iPhone unless Apple lower the barrier to entry, for example, bring out an API usable with Windows, allow use of an alternate programming language and provide a better app store experience, preferably without this whimsical and drawn-out acceptance experience.
What’s with the idea that anything YOU don’t want to use making the appstore cluttered. I go to stores every day that has tons of things I don’t want and will never want. I don’t buy them! Why can’t it be the same in the app store. If I want a duck phone or a fart app I’ll buy it. If I don’t I’ll just swipe past it.
He should just resubmit it as a duck hunting helper application. I have never gone duck hunting but don’t they use something similar to attract the ducks? That should be enough functionality for them.
Maybe Apple should implement some type of concept review process allowing the developers to submit a simple half page or less description of what they wish to develop and learn up front if it has a shot?
I hope they continue to reject lots of these minimal functionality apps. Gives me a better chance of finding useful apps.
Apple called me today to let me know that they rejected some new apps that were waiting for acceptance.
Here is what Steve, the Apple rep told me in our conversation.
1. Apple feels like too many companies are spamming the store with a shotgun approach to app release. I raised the example of Brighthouse Labs which has over 5k apps, all of dubious quality. He would not tell me if he had talked to them or otherwise, but since they are the official iTunes App Store Spam Kings from Canuckistan, I assume he has had many, many conversations with them.
2. They want developers to instead combine apps that are segmented into a volume of apps into one app with the ability to do in app purchases to unlock more content.
3. They are taking a proactive stance and calling developers to communicate these changes and thereby rejecting any apps you currently have in the queue waiting to be approved.
4. iTunes Connect daily purchase data should be working now even though they have no plans to make it more stable any time soon. I kid. Steve never told me anything about the instability of iTunes Connect sales data, but I added it nonetheless for the sake of humor.
So therefore, all the little quotes apps that Brighthouse Labs with such intellectual luminaries as Tupac Shakur (who clearly has sage wisdom to share with the world) will have to be combined with Dalai Lama and Ronald Reagan. Yes – you may someday be able to get wisdom from religious figures, the father of the modern Republican party and a dead rapper who could barely spell “bulletproof vest” in one nifty app. This inspires me to make a quotes app with wisdom from Steve “I eat vegan while Wozniak eats anything and *I* had to get a new liver?” Jobs, Larry “We still run Windows desktops at Oracle” Ellison and Phil “mullet marketing master” Schiller in one nifty app with the ability to unlock Jeffrey Dahmer and Ron Jeremy for only 99 cents.
what type of apps did you have waiting?
I need to put batteries in my singing fish and contemplate this matter. Class action award coupon or $.27
Apple called me today to let me know that they rejected some new apps that were waiting for acceptance.
Here is what Steve, the Apple rep told me in our conversation.
1. Apple feels like too many companies are spamming the store with a shotgun approach to app release. I raised the example of Brighthouse Labs which has over 5k apps, all of dubious quality. He would not tell me if he had talked to them or otherwise, but since they are the official iTunes App Store Spam Kings from Canuckistan, I assume he has had many, many conversations with them.
2. They want developers to instead combine apps that are segmented into a volume of apps into one app with the ability to do in app purchases to unlock more content.
3. They are taking a proactive stance and calling developers to communicate these changes and thereby rejecting any apps you currently have in the queue waiting to be approved.
4. iTunes Connect daily purchase data should be working now even though they have no plans to make it more stable any time soon. I kid. Steve never told me anything about the instability of iTunes Connect sales data, but I added it nonetheless for the sake of humor.
So therefore, all the little quotes apps that Brighthouse Labs with such intellectual luminaries as Tupac Shakur (who clearly has sage wisdom to share with the world) will have to be combined with Dalai Lama and Ronald Reagan. Yes – you may someday be able to get wisdom from religious figures, the father of the modern Republican party and a dead rapper who could barely spell “bulletproof vest” in one nifty app. This inspires me to make a quotes app with wisdom from Steve “I eat vegan while Wozniak eats anything and *I* had to get a new liver?” Jobs, Larry “We still run Windows desktops at Oracle” Ellison and Phil “mullet marketing master” Schiller in one nifty app with the ability to unlock Jeffrey Dahmer and Ron Jeremy for only 99 cents.
Apple called me today to let me know that they rejected some new apps that were waiting for acceptance.
Here is what Steve, the Apple rep told me in our conversation.
1. Apple feels like too many companies are spamming the store with a shotgun approach to app release. I raised the example of Brighthouse Labs which has over 5k apps, all of dubious quality. He would not tell me if he had talked to them or otherwise, but since they are the official iTunes App Store Spam Kings from Canuckistan, I assume he has had many, many conversations with them.
2. They want developers to instead combine apps that are segmented into a volume of apps into one app with the ability to do in app purchases to unlock more content.
3. They are taking a proactive stance and calling developers to communicate these changes and thereby rejecting any apps you currently have in the queue waiting to be approved.
4. iTunes Connect daily purchase data should be working now even though they have no plans to make it more stable any time soon. I kid. Steve never told me anything about the instability of iTunes Connect sales data, but I added it nonetheless for the sake of humor.
So therefore, all the little quotes apps that Brighthouse Labs with such intellectual luminaries as Tupac Shakur (who clearly has sage wisdom to share with the world) will have to be combined with Dalai Lama and Ronald Reagan. Yes – you may someday be able to get wisdom from religious figures, the father of the modern Republican party and a dead rapper who could barely spell “bulletproof vest” in one nifty app. This inspires me to make a quotes app with wisdom from Steve “I eat vegan while Wozniak eats anything and I had to get a new liver?” Jobs, Larry “We still run Windows desktops at Oracle” Ellison and Phil “mullet marketing master” Schiller in one nifty app with the ability to unlock Jeffrey Dahmer and Ron Jeremy for only 99 cents.
Hi Jan!
i think it’s unfair for both customers and developers – but maybe with microsoft’s new phone, they’ll change policies when the heat is on? we’ll see.
Yes, a free-for-all shitstorm of useless customization did wonders for Myspace.
The reason for complaining Apple gets more and more ridiculous and unfair as well.
Take a look at your mailbox. Everyone can put things inside but do you want it to be suffocated with spams or something useful?
It is not human rights to put rubbish into App Store. Though Apple should be more specific and give the reason as “Uninteresting” or add another category “Silly” in addition to “Explicit”.
I think the iPhone is a fad that will pass the sooner it dies the better. mobile devices should use the same OS and programs available for PCs. If they did they would use the same programing language and we wouldn’t have be having this discussion.
It IS the same programming language and APIs as Mac OSX, with a couple of differences.
That’s why there’s so many apps.
This makes total sense~! I’m happy that Apple is not accepting this application.
Save the shelf space for real applications.
Maybe if his Duck Phone farted they would let it in the store. I swear after this crap and banning bikinis, and locking the phone and the shitty ATT service and the banning of Flash. As soon as my companies contracts expire this summer all six phones are getting dumped in favor of Nexus. additionally our post production facility will seriously look at the new Windows systems and Adobe editing and post production software. Hell admit it, even the Final Cut Up-Date that we in the production field were expecting to be so great was a major disappoint last year.
Ironic: the acronym for “iPhone App Review Team” is… wait for it… iART.
Wonder if they have a iPhone Featured App Review Team, for those, you know, “featured” apps.
Just say’n.
> Ironic: the acronym for “iPhone App Review Team” is… wait for it… iART.
Actually, wouldn’t that be iPhART?
reinharden
They are using the notion of “minimal user functionality” to reject anything they don’t like.
We will stop trying to build apps for the iphone. This company operates with no mercy and will cut off developers whenever they feel like it, even after they spend thousands of man hours building apps.
Why is apple doing this that’s crazy!
I like the phone it looks pretty quack
The Padrino
http://www.thepadrino.com
Why does everyone keep moaning and groaning about Apples App policies???!?!? It’s extremely frustrating… these writers speaking on behalf of “developers” who are being “burdened” need to stop threatening to move on and just move on dammit.
This is all really getting old.
Thank you apple for not making me have to fish through yet another POINTLESS and ridiculous app to get to the apps that DO matter.
If anything, this sort of move should be considered a SERVICE for the REAL DEVELOPERS who make REAL APPS that actually have an APPLICATION, since being an APPLICATION is the entire point of an APP… no??
Shut up already.
In your rampant Apple love, you seem to forget that no platform owner should be in a position to arbitrarily decide who should or shouldn’t be worthy to be considered a “real developer.” When anyone but Apple does it, people and government agencies pretty unanimously consider it anti-competitive behavior.
Apple is literally the only company who has ever been allowed to get away with having total arbitrary authority over what is and isn’t published for their platform, with no documented criteria. Even Nintendo, who is usually considered one of the most controlling companies on Earth, still has a well documented approval process. Microsoft, Sony, RIM, Google, Nokia, they all either have no approval process for their platforms, or a very well documented, and therefore predictable, approval process.
The problem isn’t that Apple wants to approve apps, it is the capricious and undocumented nature of the process that is at issue. You seem to not get that Apple is not doing these developers some favor, it is making a lot of money from the cut they take of these developers’ work. If you want to profit off of someone else’s work, there are laws you have to follow, and one of those is that you, as the platform owner, cannot use your ownership of the platform to stifle competition and give yourself, or chosen partners, an unfair advantage over the other companies you are charging to carry their product.
“If you want to profit off of someone else’s work, there are laws you have to follow, and one of those is that you, as the platform owner, cannot use your ownership of the platform to stifle competition and give yourself, or chosen partners, an unfair advantage over the other companies you are charging to carry their product.”
Yeah, it’s called the Platform Law, ratified in 1958. You really make up some idiotic crap.
No, it is called anti-trust law. Any single company who owns the distribution mechanism, the means of production, and the means of displaying content, is under special scrutiny for anti-competitive behavior. Just watch. Apple will end up afoul of the law here. It might takes years, like it does in most anti-trust cases, but eventually it be shown to be illegal to require developers to use your development tools, require them to give you a cut of their sales, require users with your device to only use your store, and then refuse to approve apps that compete with your products.
The reality is that we wouldn’t even be discussing this if it were any other company but Apple. If Microsoft would not let you develop for Windows using anything but Visual Studio, which had to be running on a Windows PC, then only allowed software to be purchased on Windows Marketplace, with them taking a 30% cut, and then refused to sell any software that competed with their software, the DoJ would be on them so fast it wouldn’t be funny, and the entire Internet would be cheering.
Yes, the DoJ is full of Apple fanboys. Wait, what?
@puhsitch
Do you really imagine the Obama DoJ is in a big hurry to go after Apple’s board of directors, including Al Gore?
Yeah…they probably realize that a few too many heads will explode if people are forced to choose between Apple and Al Gore.
Wait, that doesn’t make any sense. Sorry, I need a nap.
I want a pristine Web. Could anybody please reject all the crappy websites, blogs, shops and Marketplaces? I DON’T want to buy all that Star Wars bullshit, I NEVER would buy old coins (please tell this ebay too) … Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had a group of people looking at all these sites and products before they become accessible? …
Folks, to be honest: the app store’s glance is it’s variety. And Apple should really think twice before they reject a really harmless Duck-App because of it’s “functionality” but allow e.g. hundreds of malfunctioning to do lists to be sold …
If Apple wants a “pristine” store, they should work on their own functionality: search through +100K apps.
And yes, it’s your store, Apple. But it’s our perception. And our perception is the value of your brand.
Some guys here are so ridiculously anti-apple. I remember when the app store was compared to the android store here on techcrunch, it was these same guys that complained that the app store is full of shitty apps, now apple is trying to clean it up, you are complaining and shouting antitrust, anti this, anti that….duh!!!
As a hardware manufacturer, OS developer, and software distributor, and with an exclusive contract with a telecom provider, Apple is acting very anti-competitively. I think the best way to think about this is like such:
Pretend that Intel signed a contract with Microsoft so that Intel processors could only be used with the Windows OS. Let’s say that Microsoft signed a contract with Time Warner saying that the Windows OS could only access the Internet using Time Warner’s telecom services. Finally, let’s say that Microsoft ran a software store that only stocked approved applications for Windows. If you are going to develop or purchase software, it has to be through the Windows Software store (you do have the option of developing software as a hobby and distributing it for free to a small circle of friends, but can’t distribute through the Internet and can’t do it for profit).
In the above scenario, if I think that Intel makes superior processors and want to use them for my computing needs, I’m forced to only use Microsoft-approved software on my computer. What? Of course, I’m not forced to use Intel’s product. I could settle for AMD (which, of course, may have it’s own contracts with an OS, telecom, and software distributor).
I don’t see why Apple gets away with this for the iPhone, iTunes, and the AT&T network, but there’s no way that Intel, Microsoft, and Time Warner could enter into the exact same kind of exclusive contracts.
Apple won’t get away with it. Anti-trust investigations just take a long time. Apple is currently being investigated by just about every governmental entity who investigates such things, and sooner or later either the US or the EU will bring charges. It just isn’t something that happens overnight.
Anti-trust? Because everybody knows that users can’t choose one of the other phones that currently holds 97% of the market?
reinharden
Has anyone here ever heard the old saying “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure”? I mean, yes, it’s an app that doesn’t do much and I would not get it, but that doesn’t mean that there are people out there who don’t want this app.
I see plenty of apps that I would turn my nose to in the app store as well as some that I would like to have and others that I wish they had, but is not (and never will be) available for my ipod unless I jail break it if even that. This is not about the apps, it’s about the fact that apple tries to control something you pay good money for like a Nazi when the market should be free to whoever. PCs and Macs don’t have this have this kind of restriction.
A big FU to you TC. Why do you continuously bash Apple for quality control in THEIR OWN STORE! They have the right to disallow anything they want. You have a problem with that… get in another line of business.
Maybe you should stop your Google ass kissing and realize that one and a while.
+1!
^this.
I’ll jump on this train!
what do you expect from a company based in the Peoples Republic of Californica??