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How Apple's App Review Is Sabotaging the iPhone
snydeq writes to recommend Peter Wayner's inside look at the frustration iPhone developers face from Apple when attempting to distribute their apps through the iPhone App Store. Wayner's long piece is an extended analogy comparing Apple to the worst of Soviet-era bureaucracy. "Determined simply to dump an HTML version of his book into UIWebView and offer two versions through the App Store, Wayner endures four months of inexplicable silences, mixed messages, and almost whimsical rejections from Apple — the kind of frustration and uncertainty Wayner believes is fast transforming Apple's regulated marketplace into a hotbed of bottom-feeding mediocrity. 'Developers are afraid to risk serious development time on the platform as long as anonymous gatekeepers are able to delay projects by weeks and months with some seemingly random flick of a finger,' Wayner writes of his experience. 'It's one thing to delay a homebrew project like mine, but it's another thing to shut down a team of developers burning real cash. Apple should be worried when real programmers shrug off the rejections by saying, "It's just a hobby."'"
Apple's managed to get more than fifty thousand apps through the process and onto the store. Nobody's going to write stories about the ones that went smoothly.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Might have been 2 billion if it was an easier process.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Apple is not interested in allowing you to control your own hardware. This is just another example among many. I hope this sort of thing makes the iPhone and other Apple crap die a painful death.
Long live Android!
No kidding. Most phones can run Java programs. Sun even lets you download the SDK for mobile development for free!
More than that, he is trying to create an app that is a book. This is something he could easily do by putting it on a web page, if he wants he could even limit distribution to only iPhones by using the User Agent string (ok, it's not perfect, but does it matter?), and to the average iPhone user it would be approximately the same.
By putting it in an app, he is gaining the benefit of the Apple distribution system, and he is even hoping he will make money by doing so. In fact, I doubt he would even have tried making the app if it weren't for that (has he released a blackberry version?). He is not benefiting users particularly with this app (that is basically a fancy text file), he is cluttering up the app store with a moderately lame application.
Which is fine, anyone should be able to write a moderately lame application, but Apple shouldn't be forced to distribute it for them. The bigger problem here is that Apple isn't letting anyone install apps on the phone in any way other than their distribution system. But once again, in this case it doesn't matter, because he wasn't trying to get on the phone, he was trying to get on the distribution system.
So this isn't just a non-issue for those of us who don't have iPhones, it is a non-issue for almost everyone except those who want free advertising from Apple.
Qxe4
I too have found this process annoying. Apples now ruling on UIWebView is ridiculous. I tried to work with them on not allowing any links to work, and they weren't happy enough with that, I still need to give it maximum rating.
But the most frustrating aspect is having no communication with customers. A customer spots a bug, leaves a review that is it. You can fix it, but there is no way to get in touch with that customer, or leave a reply saying you have fixed it. There is even no message that a customer has left a review, you have to trawl through all your apps for reviews every so often, or you will never find out about this.
It is a great system, I will keep producing apps because of this, but it certainly could be better.
Sidekicks -- They have a "marketplace too". Locked down. T-mobile phones. Locked down. AT&T phones. Locked down. Almost every phone in existance has a "market place" equivalent, which has an approval process. Suddenly the iPhone comes along and people were expecting sunshine and kittens?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Make sure you click on every story that doesn't involve you, and inform us of how it doesn't relate to you. I find that comments like yours really add to the discussion.
First they came for the "lame" apps that wanted to be distributed on the iPhone, but I didn't care because I didn't have and iPhone and/or trust Apple to filter apps for me. . .
Its easy to shrug your shoulders now, when you don't care about a particular functionality. Or if you happen to be the type that habitually runs their cash through Apple's distribution system to buy gimmicky apps that you only use once.
If you read deeper, you'll find the answers to some of your questions. First, the AppStore has proven to be worthless for driving any interest in my books. You can't even find the book by typing the name of the book into the search field. It doesn't help to add quotes around the name. You get other apps with odd names. Don't ask me what's going on.
Second, this isn't about free advertising. I paid Apple to be included in their dev program. You can't even submit free apps without paying.
There's been a healthy debate about the best ways to distribute books for the platform. I like many of the readers. They offer more features than I was able to hack together. But the readers add another layer between the author and the user. They deserve to be compensated. I'll probably experiment with them in the future too. But this was all about experimenting with the AppStore.
Finally, I did build an HTML version and it works reasonable well. You can find it here:
http://www.wayner.org/books/ffa/webkit/
But it has limitations too. The marked up version of the book is more than a megabyte. Anyone can read it on their iPhone by hitting this URL. But the caching isn't great and they may need to reload it. The performance is much better as a direct App.
In any case, I still think that iPhone users and iPhone developers should be able to find each other without waiting for Apple's clearly overburdened team to approve the interaction. That makes a good platform.
Make sure you click on every story that doesn't involve you, and inform us of how it doesn't relate to you. I find that comments like yours really add to the discussion.
Your response is not really an issue for those of us who are not Rival.
This message should be modded up to 5 insightful if recent trends are any indication.
I find that comments like yours really add to the discussion
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Let's count off the ways that the author is a dumbass:
If turds like this guy's app were allowed, the "too many apps" problem would be 100x worse, mostly with "MAKE MONEY FAST" (or the "Web 2.0" equivalent) versions of his idea.
I unlocked my phone within minutes of getting it home. I then proceded to take a look at the apps available via the Cydia store, which is unencumbered by the Apple review process.
Pretty much everything I tried was garbage with the developers doing just enough to get something ported and then abandoning it regardless of what kind of glaring bugs are in the system, yes the reveiw process is harsh but it does help maintain a minimum level of quality that is bettter than 99% of the apps in the cydia store.
(still, being able to get low level access to my phone still makes the jailbreak worthwhile)
Look around. Palm and Symbian applications can be downloaded from many websites. Here's a website with more than 500 open source Palm apps:
http://www.palmopensource.com/
Microsoft works with a number of stores like Handango.
If the sandbox is good enough-- and it's not that hard to build a good one-- then any software should be downloadable.
Why would I as a developer put time and hard effort into developing software if I believed there was a good chance it would never even get the chance to be installed?
If the results of the review process resulted in less junk cluttering up the appstore than the delays would be more acceptable, but the things they allow are just bizzare. Do they really need almost 400 separate 'supafan' apps from the same developer where the only difference is which celebrity news is being tracked?
air and light and time and space
This has been how Apple has done business for years. How much more money could they make if they allowed OS X to be installed on any x86 PC? They do not because they like being in control. You do not purchase a Mac, or an Iphone, you purchase the experience, as regulated by Apple. Right or wrong, this business model is along the path they chose long ago so I doubt that they will change much now. If, as a developer, you do not want to play by their rules, then you can take your software elsewhere. Just as it is their right to do this, it is also your right not to develop for their platform.
I cut it three times, and it's still too short.
That's your phone provider's fault. I've got an iPhone and I love it. I have wasted so much time with it. Trism, Peggle (great control!), and Flight Control have taken large chunks of my life.
Both my siblings have Palm Pres. I've played with them, and they're quite nice. My only complains were the build quality (would like it a little tighter) and navigation (you have to know the gestures, they're not discoverable). The card metaphor is very good.
But the app store is empty. There are three games, one of which is... connect 4.
The SDK was just released to the public, in beta. It's not meant for games, it's barely more advanced than the first way to develop for the iPhone (which was so roundly criticized). You can't get accelerometer data faster than 4 samples/sec. Palm is supposed to be making a gaming framework, but who knows how long that will be.
So right now Palm is taking submissions for their app store, which will only be able to handle non-demanding games (no Katamari Damacy there), for it's fall opening. Even if your game is done, no one will be able to buy it for months.
Basically, the Pre will be devoid of good apps for at least the next 6 months. The situation is really sad. They messed it up, big time. The SDK, even in alpha, should have been available months ago, so there would be apps at launch.
Windows Mobile has tons of apps, and a tradition of tiny little utilities costing $20. Combine that with the fragmentation of device capabilities and the market is... rough for a consumer.
Blackberries? I've heard that to develop anything on them that doesn't look like a 1996 Java applet requires you to basically do the painting for every widget on screen. There is device fragmentation here too. The app store it's self is a joke, it's very difficult to use. There is no way to browse it from a computer, which makes using it a nightmare.
Apple proved good apps were a "killer app". No one really "got" the importance of them before the iPhone's native SDK came out. Unfortunately, after more than a year, no one else is even close to being able to foster any kind of app ecosystem. Palm should have, but botched it.
I'm not really sure about the G1. I'm guessing it's sales are just too small for it to reach any kind of critical mass soon (where the Pre has a chance and Blackberries are there).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
It's a lot different in the fact you don't need to be a large company and spend thousands of dollars on special developer units, and licenses, and software to do the developing. Apple has a one time cost of $100 to anyone, all you need is a Mac, which are sadly cheaper than an Xbox dev unit. (I don't know about Wii's, but the process is the same.) And, the development SDK is free for anyone. Verizon's process is, you have to spend about $500 on a certificate from Verisign, you have to be a big enough company to convince Qualcomm to give you testing rights on your phone (which you also have to buy several different ones to test on) and then Verizon might review your application. The BREW application development process is terrible.
Was the html in his "Application" as bad as what was on that site? Why did I keep seeing the line ""? If I was apple, I'd reject an App that was just a piece of bad html too.
So, a guy with mediocre programming skills and even worse writing skills gets his app-that's-really-just-a-book rejected and this means the iPhone is doomed?
I hear a lot about the app reviewers being jerks and very little about how the rejected apps in these stories aren't the least bit compelling. There may be worse already in the App Store but that doesn't mean all the crap must go in. And it certainly shouldn't make anyone sell their stock in AAPL.
I actually found my experience with the app process much better. Perhaps I got lucky since I'm not a big development house.
My first application was rejected within a week due to a crash in a certain situation I hadn't caught previously (I should know better than to assume the debug build would act like a release build). Obviously, they go through each of the screens and check the functionality. However, I had expected one of the "nonsensical" reasons I've heard of or the extremely long review process.
I was surprised that the reviewer put in what the error was and how to reproduce it. I reproduced the error and ultimately resolved. Next submission was accepted after about a week or so as well.
Based on this experience, I really worked hard to anticipate issues with my next application before submitting. Made it in ten or so days in one pass. Both applications are rather benign without anything controversial which probably played into this.
I feel fortunate that they made it through relatively easy. I hope the game I'm developing goes as well. The oblig plug -- GMToolKit (RPG helper) and FW Calendar (Calendar with fiscal weeks displayed) are the applications.
I love the sound of distortion in the morning -- webcommando
I thought about this before working on the project and I saw that many other apps were distributing single books. After I tested some of the free ones, I decided that it wasn't a bad system at all. Sure, it added another icon, but I could live with that. When I was done with the book, I was going to delete it anyways to make room for others.
I can understand why you might want a different solution, but it boils down to a question of menu branching. Some people like a shallow tree with many options. Others want a deeper one. So it's a question of taste.
Apple's customers are not the app developers. Apple's customers are the iPhone users. So long as there are users waiting in line with money to spend, there will be app developers competing for that money, no matter how arduous the review process may be.
This will only change when a competitor such as Android offers better apps or better selection than what the Apple store carries. This could happen, but it will take quite some time due to Apple's head start.
is your APP pure HTML, or does it contain JavaScript code like the PhoneGap project uses?
If it contains JavaScript code, maybe Apple didn't like the way it was designed as it was similar to the old PhoneGap code they rejected, did you update your JavaScript code to the new PhoneGap codebase that was approved, or did you remove the old PhoneGap code with different JavaScript code?
If your APP is HTML with JavaScript, Apple might have an issue with that. Sometimes JavaScript code can do nonstandard things that locks up a web browser or causes incompatibility issues. When I programmed in JavaScript I had to keep changing my code to changing Web browser standards, as soon as a new web browser was released, the way JavaScript worked would change and I had to change my code to accommodate it.
If it is pure HTML, there might be tags you are using that Apple finds non-standard and thinks they might run exploited code.
Here is a story on why Apple rejected the PhoneGap framework in the first place.
Yeah I know, Apple wants to protect their users and set quality control standards high, and they include such rules as not using third party or open source frameworks, and Apple does not want the APP modified on the iPhone after being bought, Apple does not want the APP to run on a competitor's phone (HTML and JavaScript applications can easily be ported to another format), and PhoneGap type applications may not work on future iPhones, it is all a matter of risk management. Apple does not want to risk anything so it sets strict guidelines on what an iPhone APP can and cannot do.
Yeah ironically Apple has exchanged freedom for security, and in doing so shut out developers like yourself. Even something as simple as HTML code and/or JavaScript has to be reviewed and has a possibility of being rejected. It goes against the open source philosophy, I don't know what else to say. Even Microsoft is not that strict on what can and cannot be done on their smart phones or Windows OS. Except to say that Microsoft's products are more prone to exploits and viruses and other malware, and maybe Apple is doing this kind of thing to prevent exploits in their iPhone?
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
The rich get richer. Browsing the App Store, you see the most popular apps at the top. There is no power search for apps with the highest user ratings. I really can't find what I'm looking for.
New app developers start at the bottom and have to compete against popular apps already ingrained at the top.
I'm writing for an App Review site right now that hopes to help alleviate that.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
There are generally two polarized camps:
1. Apple is too restrictive
2. It's Apple's game, it's a damned good game, and if you don't want to play it, then go home!
Both camps have some valid points and the biggest problem is that the second camp effectively refuses to see the validity of the first camp. The first camp's complaints have nothing to do with the [defensive] position of the second camp. In fact, you can both love and admire the iPhone and still think that Apple is a bunch of jerks with Nazi policies.
But it is such a repetitive and pointless cycle. Neither side will convince anyone of the other side to see it their way.
Personally, I am in the first camp. I won't voluntarily buy an iPhone until someone sets up a jail-broken app store from which to distribute the apps Apple doesn't approve of. And frankly, there are many phones that are LOTS better than the iPhone so it's a moot point really. Still -- let people complain and maybe one day Apple will listen... I have no reason to believe they will. Apple is more stubborn than Apple's fans are.
WinMo requires you to pay $0. Palm requires you to pay $0. Xbox 360 development requires you to pay the price of the device (MUCH MUCH MUCH less than an iPhone and Mac to dev with) and $50 (and nothing for development tools). You're full of shit. Apple has one of the worst developer programs out there, and most serious developers don't even consider writing apps for the iPhone because of how shit Apple's tools and fees really are. It's not worth having Apple arbitrarily reject your app if you're a developer that actually makes a living off his/her work, which most people making "iFart" for the iPhone aren't.
Apple has an *annual* fee of $100 to anyone, not a one time cost. You pay your $100 each year to continue to be part of the dev program. Myself and several devs I know have just past our one year anniversary and have had to pony up next years $100 fee.
DaveyJJ
That's a suspicious number... Clearly Apple must be rejecting so many iPhone apps because the App Store database can only hold 65,536 apps!
It's a fucking Ebook. Why the hell do you need javascript?
From what others have been pointing out you've been trying to do something naughty or odd and you're getting called out on it. You just won't admit that you're at fault and would rather just take the shot at Apple.
I certainly rather enjoy that you make note to call out Apple for their vague reasons for denying your application, but yet you have not been very open exactly as to what has been rejected. You could very well post the source code to your application if you were this desperate to call Apple out, but you won't, because chances are someone, somewhere, will call bullshit on you. The fact is, that Apple is vague because they might not have all of the source available--but you do. And you are the only one that can change what you're doing, not them.
Wouldn't that be more like a 'lukewarmbed'?
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
I thought this guy's name seemed familiar: http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/2037236
Maybe it's just me and my experiences in real life, but this guy reminds me of a doctor. Smart, capable of doing complex stuff... but always convinced that he's in the right, and that he should always get his way. If he doesn't get his way, that... that's... that's just unacceptable!!
I don't mean to troll, and I don't mean to insult beyond what anyone deserves. But I just want to point out that we have a *very* one-sided view of the situation. From reading his stuff it seems like he is in the right (and I agree with some things he says), but I can't help but think that there just *might* be some bias in a story told by the protagonist with mild hyperbole. If it happens twice, I'm doubly suspicious.
Again, I agree with some things he says. And again, maybe this is a symptom of me and the people I work with. But it seems to me that he complains a lot, is self-centered, and thinks he knows everything (but doesn't). No offense, Peter, but that's how you're rubbing me.
Say what you will about these words - I can be hypocritical at times.
a lot of these responses assume it's just TOS violations but they reject apps for many other reasons. i am a professional artist and i have made a bunch of very simple websites as part of my art practice - a domain with a simple image or animation. i made an art app for the iphone along these lines.... apple rejected it outright because it was too "minimal" for their tastes. this frustrates me to no ends... who are they to say what my art should be? that my work needs to be complex. clearly this has made me less keen on it as a platform, and many of my artfriends are second-guessing making apps. another example - an app i developed for a client - needed rating because there's a video of someone saying "girl, you looking good". this is apple's notion of what mature content is. they're pretty over the top, they make tipper gore look like g.g. allin. what makes matters worse - it took them FOUR WEEKS to tell us this. and we have adjusted the rating and have now waited another TWO WEEKS and they haven't reviewed it again yet. this is crippling to a business. this is not internet time, this is boat-trip-across-the-atlantic time. very frustrating.
"The same can't be said for a development studio. If you decide that you are going to commit resources to making an app, you are likely to want a guarantee that it can be released."
If you're a development house and you commit resources and create a console game, is there an ironclad GUARANTEE that Walmart or Best Buy or Gamestop is going to stock it? No. The game may suck. The game may crash. And so on.
Just like with music and books and video, just because you create it doesn't mean you're guarenteed to sell it.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.