Should Apple Skip the App Approval Process?

by Sebastien on November 20th, 2009

Since the birth of the App Store, there has been some very confusing app approvals. Apple approved applications that shouldn’t be approved (ie. Baby Shaker) but didn’t let other “non-threatening” apps make it through its walled garden.

This random app approval process can be very frustrating, especially for developers who might spend considerable amounts of time developing an application and risk to see it denied.

But what can a developer do against the almighty Apple dictator? Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. Apple clearly doesn’t care about independent developers who have actually made the App Store the success it is today.

The good news is that some well-known developers have started to raise their voices and say out loud what they think. That’s the case of Joe Hewitt, the lead developer of the Facebook application for iPhone. In a tweet sent out last week, Hewitt announced he quit developing for the iPhone. TechCrunch got him to tell more about his decision:

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.

Take that Apple! When the developer of the most popular application basically tells you how much you suck, it kinda hurts.

In an article on JAiB (which inspired this article of mine), my fellow iPhone blogger PatrickJ gives his opinion:

Apple could restrict their review process to solely looking at the “soundness of the code” [...] does the code risk crashing other apps / hanging up the OS? Does it compromise security? Not venturing into any of the grey areas beyond that.

I think Patrick is spot on. Yes Apple should check the apps and make sure they are properly working without compromising any of the iPhone features or security. Beyond that, Apple shouldn’t tell me what’s best or not for me.

Enough about what I think. What do you think? Do you think Apple should continue the same way? Should it scrap the app review process? I really look forward to read your thoughts.

 
 

Enough With Apple Dictatorship

by Sebastien on July 28th, 2009

I am growing tired of Apple’s ridiculous app approval process. There is not one day going by without Apple making the headlines of tech blogs for their absurd abuse of power over developers. At first, I covered these nonsensical rejections, but there’s been so many that I stopped reporting them.

The latest grotesque rejection from the App Store is GV Mobile, a Google Voice application that was approved last April by Phil Schiller himself, Apple’s senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing… Fast forward 3 months later and the app is rejected because it is “duplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc)”. What a nonsense!

Last month, Apple rejected iLaugh Lite for no reason at all, saying that it reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject an application for any reason. If this doesn’t sound like a pure dictatorship, I don’t know what it is…

What really annoys me is that people don’t seem to care much and just deal with it. If it was Microsoft doing the same thing, people would be ranting all over the web. But it’s Apple, the great innovative, customer oriented company so that makes it ok… To me it doesn’t!

Apple is taking the risk of seeing the most innovative developers jump over to Android or the Palm Pre, but does it really care? It seems to me Apple cares more about money coming in through fart applications than it cares about really pushing the limits of innovation in the App Store.

If you were looking for yet another reason the jailbreak your iPhone, then here you go. This is an opportunity for developers to flip their third finger to Apple and make their apps available on jailbroken iPhones. That’s exactly what the developer of GV Mobile is going to do has done as GV Mobile is now available for free on Cydia. I just wish more developers would follow the jailbreak way. No one, including Apple, should dictate what I can and cannot do with my iPhone.

What do you think of the app approval process? Do you think it’s ok for Apple to reject whatever it wants, or do you feel that you, the end user, should decide what’s good or not for you?

As a side note, you can see that my Photoshop skills are very limited… If any of you guys want to make a better image for this article, feel free to get in touch with me.

 

Apple Dictatorship Hits Again

by Sebastien on June 12th, 2009

I try not to write too much about the app approval process because it seems to be a never ending discussion. However, some events piss me off so much sometimes that I have to vent out by writing a post about it. That’s the case about a new app rejection I first heard about on TUAW.

Usually, when Apple rejects an app, it gives somewhat of a reason like “violating the SDK” or “objectionable content”. This time though, the reason for rejecting an update to iLaugh Lite simply is that Apple can do whatever they want to do.

This to me is very similar to a dictatorship and it is absolutely scandalous. But what can you do? You can just shut up and hope things get better, just like the good obedient consumers we are.

 

Peekababe Finally Makes It To The App Store

by Sebastien on May 1st, 2009

A couple of weeks ago, I reported about Peekababe being rejected from the App Store because it was too much of a sexy app. Well, even though the app doesn’t seem to have changed at all, Peekababe is now allowed in the App Store, proving one more time that the app approval process is just a giant joke.

According to TechCrunch:

So why did Apple approve the app this time? Well it may be because Sookie now includes a 12+ rating for it. “My rating was based on the guidelines that they have for the iTunes store. Better to be safe than sorry,” Bigio says. There is also a clear note saying that it does not contain any nude or pornographic pictures. 12+ is kind of funny though. Something tells me a lot of parents wouldn’t want their 12-year-old playing with this app.

I really like the irony that it’s not ok for kids under 12 to see ladies in sexy lingerie but it sure is ok for them to kill, rob, and sell drugs in the Mafia-like iPhone games…

You can download Peekababe on iTunes for $0.99.