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Google's iOS Gmail App Pulled

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-ready-for-primetime dept.

olsmeister writes "Google removed their new GMail app from the App Store due to a programming error that caused an error message related to the aps-environment entitlement string when the app was started and also caused the notifications not to function correctly. They are working to get the app fixed and are going to have the new one ready soon."

90 comments

  1. I guess by wsxyz · · Score: 1

    That functionality and usability testing by the app-store staff must have been extra rigorous with this app, or something.

    1. Re:I guess by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm really not sure how this made it all the way to being distributed. When you run the app for the first time, it immediately gives you an error message. How was this not caught?

    2. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, it's a good thing the Google QA staff were there to save the day.

    3. Re:I guess by Altus · · Score: 1

      Its a shame they didn't bother to test it before they released it.

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    4. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Yeah, shit on Apple's app store for Google's fuck up. Common Slashtard response.
       
      I bet you're one of the bitches who blames Microsoft for HP putting out 400meg driver packages for Windows too.

    5. Re:I guess by lptport1 · · Score: 1

      If they did that, it wouldn't be beta enough.

      Really, I love gmail, but I'm definitely looking for good alternatives for a number of Google services.

    6. Re:I guess by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Google probably labeled it "beta" so you've got to expect some bugs :-)

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    7. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who says it wasn't caught...and then allowed to slip to make Google look bad?

    8. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, shit on Apple's app store for Google's fuck up. Common Slashtard response.

      When the Mactards rally behind Apple's strict approval process as a talking point when trying to justify why the Walled Garden of Eden is better than the Android Marketplace, I feel the Droidtards have every right to expect that said approval process actually do something and that Apple should take some responsibility if they let a fully-broken app like this loose in their store.

    9. Re:I guess by wsxyz · · Score: 1

      I bet you're one of the bitches who blames Microsoft for HP putting out 400meg driver packages for Windows too.

      You got me nailed. In fact, I even blame Microsoft for the iPhone 4S battery issue.

    10. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We can't help it that you're a cunt, dude.

    11. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You apparently aren't connecting the dots -- Google fucked up, but the walled garden is justified as Apple imposing some quality control. Said quality control didn't catch this problem, so there's a legitimate question about how effective it is.

    12. Re:I guess by warrigal · · Score: 1

      The "walled garden" is there as a security measure, not QA.
      Can you imagine the screams of outrage if Apple had knocked back Google's new toy? You'd have been lining up to throw crap at Apple and I note very little criticism of Google in this thread. Fanboys springing to Google's defense trying to make it Apple's problem?

    13. Re:I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. App reviews are 100% QA. Security checks are as ineffective as the TSA--less effective, actually, because it imposes no risks. If Apple previously invented a method to proof arbitrary binary programs they'd have reinvented computing. In reality, Apple cannot detect simple undocumented API calls due to assembly obfuscation techniques.

    14. Re:I guess by mjwx · · Score: 1

      That functionality and usability testing by the app-store staff must have been extra rigorous with this app, or something.

      What makes you think they tested it. It's not like the App store can audited by a third party.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    15. Re:I guess by sd123 · · Score: 1

      As Blofield says in Diamonds are for ever, "Right idea, Mr. Bond but wrong pussy".

    16. Re:I guess by CheerfulMacFanboy · · Score: 1

      That functionality and usability testing by the app-store staff must have been extra rigorous with this app, or something.

      My guess: Google has pushed a buggy final so they could claim Apple rejected it - Apple saw through it. Google will now claim Apple published old beta.

      Anyway, what makes you think the Apple AppStore staff is a alpha tester for Google? Wouldn't that fucking be Google's job to test their app with their service?

      --
      Fandroids hate facts.
    17. Re:I guess by bonch · · Score: 2

      I was curious how Slashdot would spin this terrible app release. I should have guessed that it was going to be pinned on Apple's testers.

    18. Re:I guess by bonch · · Score: 1

      The app works. It just works poorly. But please, continue to post anonymously and use words like "Mactards."

    19. Re:I guess by laurelraven · · Score: 1

      Frankly, they both screwed up in their own way. I say we just point and snicker at both of them and move on with our lives. People make mistakes, and sometimes they are funny. Laugh, and live on.

      Of course, this could just be all the rum talking...

      --
      RTFA is Known to the State of California to cause cancer.
  2. So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bugs pop up all the time. Are we going to have such stories on slashdot every fucking time there's a bug in an app?

    1. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bugs pop up all the time. Are we going to have such stories on slashdot every fucking time there's a bug in an app?

      Yes, because /. loves to ridicule.

      Also, the Gmail app on Android is just as crap. It regularly force-closes just sitting in the background checking for new mail, often delays new mail notifications by up to half an hour, and is just generally crap. Pretty surprising considering it should be the flagship app for Google's flagship operating system.

    2. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are we going to have such stories on slashdot every fucking time there's a bug in an app?

      It sure works to bring out the trolls when doing that to Microsoft. Why does pointing out Google's mistakes hurt you so much? If you didn't care you would have moved on to the next story without wasting your time here.

    3. Re:So? by NatasRevol · · Score: 0

      Gmail app on iOS isn't any better. It's webmail in an app framework. Nothing extra.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    4. Re:So? by Catnaps · · Score: 1

      Speak for yourself; works fine here on a Sensation.

    5. Re:So? by bonch · · Score: 1

      Are we going to have anonymous Google supporters pop up every time Google has a public fuck-up?

  3. Not the worst problem... by guinness_duck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sadly the error message wasn't the worst problem that app had. No multiple accounts. No use of the Important Message feature. I've heard tags could be accessed by swiping right but that never worked for me and seems t have been an issue for many other users as well. Not to mention the whole app felt like a rushed kludge job of half baked ideas, and very inconsistant user interface. Not to mention it was far slower than just using the web site or Apple's own mail app. I think it needs a lot more work before they bother to resubmit it to the iOS app store.

    --
    In a row???
    1. Re:Not the worst problem... by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      I completely agree. This app is worthless and most certainly much much worse than iOS native mail client. Sure, you can star a mail with one click, but the app sucks big time.

      Google is clearly showing a huge disparity in the quality of their stuff on this one. My advice is to stop the rush about the bug, keep the app offline and either drop it or develop something that has a little value.

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
    2. Re:Not the worst problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I can't get into details, but I'm relatively familiar with Google's internal culture and the people they hire. And my general conclusion is that Google is absolutely the new Microsoft. Google's loaded with smart, talented, motivated people, but upper management generally lacks taste. By and large they're engineers and scientists without any real creative sensibility or vision. (And they don't appear to be good at monetizing products, with one Big Exception, and a couple of very small ones.)

      Within five seconds of seeing the app the first time I thought "it's 50/50 whether this either lacks multiple account support, or has just made it non-obvious," because both were moves they'd absolutely make. Taking Marissa Mayer off of UI was something they should have done many years ago, but they don't seem to have done anything much better since then, sadly.

      The primary reason they launched this app--the primary reason they even got into the mobile OS game--is because they're terrified of trends that reduce the share of ad space relative to total activity. Little to do with wishing they could make the kinds of mobile phone contract revenues Apple was (and is). They saw that mobile users were spending more time in apps and less time using a browser, and launched Android. And given how robust iOS's built-in Gmail client is becoming, they saw potential problems down the road with their (present) approach of trying to choke iOS by undersupporting it with no app. (Releasing a half-arsed app isn't a solution to that problem, mind you, but that's my point.)

      Neither Larry or Sergey are great product creators. Really smart guys with many sound, guiding principles? Absolutely. But if this were a sport, a yes-but-what-have-you-done-for-me-lately? approach would have the GM looking frantically for new talent to bring in within the next season or two.

      The problem is, they're continually looking for ways to make their One Solidly Profitable Product more profitable. Gmail? To serve ads. Android? To serve ads. Sooner or later they become the computing equivalent of televised news networks, existing mostly to fill space between ads. Like I said, they have better fundamental ideals than the other major players in the space (which isn't saying much given that their primary competition in the space is Yahoo and Microsoft), so Google's run will continue for some time, but Larry and Sergey don't Get It to the degree that people think they do. If they did, the app we saw today would have been seen a year ago, and it would have already been far better back then than today's joke of a release.

    3. Re:Not the worst problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Geez! You're right. Better get an Android! ;-)

    4. Re:Not the worst problem... by jo42 · · Score: 1

      Google's loaded with smart, talented, motivated people

      AKA highly educated idiots.

    5. Re:Not the worst problem... by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the whole app felt like a rushed kludge job of half baked ideas, and very inconsistant user interface.

      Indeed. I've had the GMail app on my iPhone for over a year now - and it sucks rocks through a garden hose. And that pretty much goes for all of Google on the iPhone.

    6. Re:Not the worst problem... by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      A long time ago somebody wise said that the long term success of every tech company depends on building your own competition. If you don't create the product that out-competes your cash cow, someone else will. Instead of trying to defend their little castle of Ads, Google must try to come up with products that make the ad revenue model obsolete, because a lot of other companies are trying to do that very thing. Google must continuously re-invent itself every couple of years from now on, or fall behind.

      One of the fun things about tech markets is that you must essentially always be in that near-panic flop sweat to figure out how to get to the next step before your most recent success turns old and fails. And the more successful that success was, the harder others are working to turn it to failure. How's that song go? "What have you done for me lately?" That's the customer's refrain.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    7. Re:Not the worst problem... by rflii · · Score: 2

      You think Apple let the buggy app get through so they could say "Hey, look at this crap. We know how to make a mail app for your iPhone"

    8. Re:Not the worst problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're the next microsoft in another way, too -- too much free cash from a core business, so they spend it on dumb shit.

      Case in point - android. $500 million for android itself, $2 billion for IBM patents, $12 billion for Motorola (they just finished another unprofitable quarter), plus 3 years of development costs.

      What do they get out of it? Pocket change for licensing the official google applications and, hopefully, $10 in ad revenue per user. Maybe. 60% of mobile traffic is from iOS. When you factor in demographics and willingness to spend money, that 60% becomes a lot more valuable.

      Do the numbers. Microsoft makes more money from Android than Google does. Google makes more money from iOS than they make from Android.

      But Apple isn't too happy about Google. If not for Android, Siri would probably be powered by Google. Not today. And Siri will increasingly replace googling over time.

    9. Re:Not the worst problem... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      A long time ago somebody wise said that the long term success of every tech company depends on building your own competition. If you don't create the product that out-competes your cash cow, someone else will. Instead of trying to defend their little castle of Ads, Google must try to come up with products that make the ad revenue model obsolete, because a lot of other companies are trying to do that very thing. Google must continuously re-invent itself every couple of years from now on, or fall behind.

      One of the fun things about tech markets is that you must essentially always be in that near-panic flop sweat to figure out how to get to the next step before your most recent success turns old and fails. And the more successful that success was, the harder others are working to turn it to failure. How's that song go? "What have you done for me lately?" That's the customer's refrain.

      That person wouldn't be Steve Jobs, would it? After all, it seems like the past 10 years, he's done just that. The iPod Nano basically killed the iPod mini. The iPod Touch and iPhone are basically killing all the iPods - the remaining sales are for niches (Classic for those who want their entire library, Nano for the gym and exercise folks). Heck, the iPod Nano's basically killing the iPod shuffle.

      The iPad's starting to eat into low-end portable Mac sales.

      And I remember Jobs saying a year or so ago that yes, the fact that Apple's selling products that compete and possibly steal sales away from Apple's other products is a good thing. And Apple's not afraid to actually go and create a new product even if it kills another product line.

    10. Re:Not the worst problem... by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      Was wondering how long it would take someone to blame Apple.

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    11. Re:Not the worst problem... by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      Nope, it's much older - IIRC from the late 1960s or early 1970s. But Jobs, more than most, followed that precept - and it's worked out OK so far.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    12. Re:Not the worst problem... by stating_the_obvious · · Score: 1

      Taste? Have you been reading the Jobs biography?

    13. Re:Not the worst problem... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Was wondering how long it would take someone to blame Apple.

      On first look at the title of the article, I would've blamed Apple (though I have to admit the whole "Apple bans another app" meme is getting old).

      Except this time it's Google pulling their app. And just a few weeks ago the same thing happened with the Google Voice app.

      I wonder if the Android versions of those apps are that bad...

    14. Re:Not the worst problem... by bonch · · Score: 1

      One thing that fascinates me about Android is that it was the same move Microsoft made with Internet Explorer, pumping a product into a new market at a price others couldn't compete with because it was funded by monopoly profits (from web search). However, Google's marketing department took advantage of the positive feelings associate with "openness" and attached themselves to those particular communities including this one, turning Android into some kind of open source movement even though it's not open.

      The positive emotional attachment to Google that they fostered among techies has succeeded in deflecting a lot of criticism, even as the company does things Microsoft was once criticized for. Google's behavior in recent years has been classic late 90s Microsoft, from API price changes to pumping the market with a free product that ultimately supports the company's monopoly product.

  4. Why is this news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They released an app, found a major bug, and pulled the app pending the fix. Seems pretty responsible to me.

    1. Re:Why is this news? by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think it's more to head off the inevitable "It's gone from the store!!!! Apple deleted it!!!!! Evil!! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!" that would result if they just silently took it down for coding work.

      By all accounts it really lived up to the name "beta" - even if Google's version of "beta" tends to be a little more polished.

  5. Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    How is this surprising? Or even news? Of course Apple isn't going to allow a competitor's apps on their tightly controlled devices. If Steve were alive now, he'd be on the warpath to fire the poor schmuck who accidentally let it slip through in the first place.

    1. Re:Walled Garden by Altus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wow dude, wow.

      Did you not bother to read the summary or is your blind obsessive hatred and ire just so powerful that you had to post something incredibly stupid due to some automatic reflex?

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    2. Re:Walled Garden by bigredradio · · Score: 1

      Nice troll. I see what you have done here.

      --
      Flexible bare-metal recovery for Linux/UNIX
    3. Re:Walled Garden by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure it's auto-reflex. Comment was posted the same minute as article, 5:43 PM

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    4. Re:Walled Garden by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Or I have dyslexia. 5:34 vs 5:43 is the same, right?

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    5. Re:Walled Garden by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      That's called a troll. What you're doing is called feeding the troll.

      The advice is usually to not feed the trolls.

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
    6. Re:Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I think you might have a mild case of dillslexia.

    7. Re:Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks. At least someone gets it.

    8. Re:Walled Garden by rapidreload · · Score: 1

      No wonder people can't tell trolls from insane people anymore. The lack of subtlety means both look the same these days.

      --
      To all newcomers - people here are very close-minded and can't handle complaints about Linux. Keep this in mind.
    9. Re:Walled Garden by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      If Steve were alive now, he'd be on the warpath to fire the poor schmuck who accidentally let it slip through in the first place.

      Sadly, Steve never found enlightenment. But it can be no coincidence that GMail is coming to iPhone just a month after.

      --
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      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    10. Re:Walled Garden by bonch · · Score: 0

      The sad thing is that it's hard to distinguish your post from a knowing troll or a typically reactive Slashdotter.

    11. Re:Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it was a troll. Both to poke at the very poorly worded title (as Fahrvergnuugen complains below) and to poke at the reactionary anti-fanboys that have overrun this site. Whether it was a "knowing" troll is up to the reader to decide. ;)

  6. Depends on the account by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I'm really not sure how this made it all the way to being distributed. When you run the app for the first time, it immediately gives you an error message. How was this not caught?

    When you give an application to Apple to test, if it involves accounts you have to give them working logins. So it could be the test logins worked OK, just not some (or all?) general logins.

    Also in any server based application there could be server changes at any time that simply break an application (though given they have to issue an update that is probably not what happened).

    In any case it was pretty shoddy on the part of Google to have this kind of error slip through.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Depends on the account by bamf · · Score: 1

      When you give an application to Apple to test, if it involves accounts you have to give them working logins. So it could be the test logins worked OK, just not some (or all?) general logins.

      It was failing as soon as it started, way before you could enter any account details.

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/dynamitedotorg/6306722740/in/photostream

    2. Re:Depends on the account by DragonWriter · · Score: 1

      When you give an application to Apple to test, if it involves accounts you have to give them working logins. So it could be the test logins worked OK, just not some (or all?) general logins.

      The error is, from all the reports I've read, related to the interaction with the on-device notifications API (which is why, in addition to producing the initial error message, it also prevents notifications from working, while leaving other functions operational), not the server-side login or interactions.

    3. Re:Depends on the account by cgenman · · Score: 1

      This is a bit of a simplification, but development on Apple's platform is done with sandbox accounts in a sandbox version of their system. You can build for your company in your certified sandbox, but you need other things when you release to the public. So there is a build certificate. There is also a push notification certificate (though I'm less familiar with that). It looks like Google either had a sandbox push notification certificate instead of a release push notification certificate, or didn't re-generate the store certificate after generating the sandbox certificate (for proper pairing).

      http://www.tipb.com/2011/11/02/notification-error-valid-apsenvironment-entitlement-string-fond-application/

      Apple's certificates system is a bit befuddling, quite frankly. This is an easy mistake to make.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  7. Embarrassing by GlobalEcho · · Score: 1

    Really, Google? You hired all kinds of brilliant people, including 3 of my smartest friends, and yet you make basic quality control errors?

    Sometimes the ability of organizations with multitudes of extremely smart people to achieve nothing more than mediocrity boggles my mind.

    1. Re:Embarrassing by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      Moreover, they released an app that sucks big time. Slow, inconsistent, barely usable, no tags, no multiple accounts. This app is worse than the mobile gmail website.

      So overall it looks like QA wasn't the only thing disregarded in the overall release.

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
    2. Re:Embarrassing by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      All the big brains working on Adsense and search probably think a simple iOS app is beneath them and have palmed it off on Tibor the latverian intern.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    3. Re:Embarrassing by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 1

      Google was quite obviously testing the Apple app store QA process - submit a faulty, Slow, inconsistent, barely usable app and see what's picked up...... it seems only the money was picked up. /humour

      --
      BM3
    4. Re:Embarrassing by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 1

      The Latverian intern IS "all the big brains" working on Adsense - the highly qualified, highly paid geniuses are all busy attending meetings.

      --
      BM3
  8. Inexcusable incompetence for this failure by jmcbain · · Score: 1

    It is completely inexcusable for Google to botch up a high-profile app release like this. Google has thousands of engineers, PMs, and testers, and they can't release an app for Gmail, one of their flagship user-facing products? There is absolutely no reason for this to happen other than complete and total incompetence. And you cannot blame this on iOS 5 because the beta 1 was released back in June.

    1. Re:Inexcusable incompetence for this failure by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

      Google is pretty shoddy in some areas. Customer support, imo, is the biggest one but, imo, they also seem more happy to push new features than fix problems. Google Maps was broken for me on my Android phone a couple years ago due to an update for a good few weeks before it was fixed.

    2. Re:Inexcusable incompetence for this failure by rayd75 · · Score: 1

      It is completely inexcusable for Google to botch up a high-profile app release like this. Google has thousands of engineers, PMs, and testers, and they can't release an app for Gmail, one of their flagship user-facing products?

      Inexcusable? Maybe. ...but not at all unexpected. Anyone who's attempted to make use of the Google Voice iOS app over the last ~year that it's been available would think that an app that errors-out at launch is the next evolutionary step. It's had at least three updates but none of them have addressed abysmal performance, hangs, lock-ups, and false "call failed" error messages that were present and widely experienced from the very start.

  9. Obviously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a plot by [Apple|Google] to embarrass [Google|Apple] and drive [Gmail|iOS] customers to [iCloud|Android].

    (Seriously, though...a cheesy embedded webview app, and it still doesn't work? WTF, Google?)

  10. Who needs an iOS GMail app? by halfdan+the+black · · Score: 1

    Seriously, WTF would I install an app thats basically a web page to use GMail when I have the built in mail app?

    I just enable IMAP on GMail, and all my computers using that account are synced perfectly. IMAP really is awesome, don't understand the need for a web based (unless I'm at a kiosk, or using some else's machine) to access email when I have a native app.

    1. Re:Who needs an iOS GMail app? by Retardical_Sam · · Score: 1

      I love how Android allows me to keep my personal GMail and my work Exchange account in different apps, I assume that this is meant to do the same thing on iOS. That way by just looking at the little "unread" number hovering over the app I can tell whether those unread emails are personal or professional: right now I have no way of making this differentiation.

    2. Re:Who needs an iOS GMail app? by BitZtream · · Score: 2

      Use exchange sync instead of IMAP with gmail, you get push notifications as well as cal and contact syncing if you want. Specifically, use the Exchange option in Mail, not the IMAP or Google Mail options.

      Gmail supports IMAP IDLE for push, but the iPhone mail client only supports push on Exchange for some retarded reasons I've yet to determine.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    3. Re:Who needs an iOS GMail app? by darrylo · · Score: 1

      iOS IMAP and the gmail iOS interface are crippled, as neither supports push.

      As BitZtream said, the exchange sync (aka, "google sync") is the way to go, as you get push email, and also synchronized contacts and calendars. The only downside is that google sync doesn't support contact groups -- all of your contacts get lumped into one big pile (if you want contact groups, use iCloud -- iCloud contacts is the one really good thing about iCloud).

    4. Re:Who needs an iOS GMail app? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We do not need any Android quality apps on iOS.

      Google needs to stick to Android apps.

      All Google is trying to do is capture eyeballs on Apple devices for their advertising with their shoddy programing.

  11. Bad title by Fahrvergnuugen · · Score: 1

    Love the sensationalist attention whore of a headline. They way it's worded, it makes it sound like Apple pulled Google's app instead of Google taking it down because it didn't work right.

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    1. Re:Bad title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't this more like "love the jump to conclusion"?

    2. Re:Bad title by Threni · · Score: 1

      I didn't read it that way. You sound a little defensive.

    3. Re:Bad title by Fahrvergnuugen · · Score: 1

      The possessive use "Google's" implies that they didn't do it themselves.

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    4. Re:Bad title by Firehed · · Score: 1

      They should have. I liked iOS apps better back when their app review department actually did something. Everyone bitched and whined about slow updates, and now we have a bunch of shitty apps. They shouldn't be reviewing for good taste (beyond store policy violations) but there's no way they even opened the app since the first thing it did on launch was pop up a cryptic error dialog.

      Honestly I'm just as disappointed in Apple for letting this through as I am in Google for submitting such an atrocious piece of crap. If you're going to curate, then actually curate. It should have been denied just for piss-poor implementation, never mind the bugginess (see also: Google+ for iOS)

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    5. Re:Bad title by Hotweed+Music · · Score: 0

      Sure, but you're grasping at straws, since it makes complete sense to read it either way.

    6. Re:Bad title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it implies that Google owns the iOS Gmail app, which they do. You're a retard.

    7. Re:Bad title by Threni · · Score: 1

      In the same way "Neighbour's car crashed into shop wall" suggests it wasn't the neighbour driving the car?

    8. Re:Bad title by Threni · · Score: 1

      Like the article headline, in fact.

  12. tro77 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Dying. See? It's and executes a Creek, abysmal believe their

  13. when Jobs was alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google wouldn't have dared to submit that until it was polished. Apple would have pulled it anyway.

  14. WHAT? by shadowrat · · Score: 1

    This is unheard of. The industry standard is to leave non functioning apps in the app store.

  15. Failure to communicate? by rubypossum · · Score: 2

    It seems like Google has been having problems communicating within its own departments lately. They're just doing too many things at once. It's like watching a sleep-deprived juggler get thrown a few extra chainsaws during their act - not a pretty sight.

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    1. Re:Failure to communicate? by rsborg · · Score: 1

      It seems like Google has been having problems communicating within its own departments lately. They're just doing too many things at once. It's like watching a sleep-deprived juggler get thrown a few extra chainsaws during their act - not a pretty sight.

      Is this any surprise after Larry Page restructured the organization to resemble more (in the words of the linked article) "a confederacy". The last line of the article may have been prophetic:

      As far as internal practices go, the new model appears to give more autonomy to the business heads and let them do most of the interacting with only a little centralized leadership from the top.

      This confederate model may work well for Google, but keeping a cohesive company focus will remain challenging for the new CEO.

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    2. Re:Failure to communicate? by bonch · · Score: 1

      This company is late 90s Microsoft. Engineer-driven rather than user-driven, and all behavior motivated by the need to support the monopoly product.

  16. Really? This is not news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How is this news?

  17. Sloppy by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1

    They are working to get the app fixed and are going to have the new one ready soon.

    It's not really what any self-respecting developer would call an app though. It's a sloppy and lazy thing which is just a wrapper around the mobile web interface. To quote The Verge:

    The app is basically just the Gmail web app with a wrapper around it and offline functionality, though it does have some nice tweaks like a left-side drawer that slides out to show labels and an easy way to attach photos from your camera roll. Of course, the bugs handily outnumber the features - you can't save an attachment from the app itself, it's often unresponsive, and the app doesn't yet index your device's address book.

    In short, just continue using the native iOS version as this isn't a remotely worthy alternative.

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