Slashdot Mirror
The Struggles of Getting Into the App Store
itwbennett writes "You've heard the horror stories about the App Store approval process driving developers away, but what really makes it so bad isn't the 6-8 day waiting period or even rejection. What make it so bad is the lack of access to a human problem-solver at who can loosen the stranglehold of Apple's protocol machine, says Matthew Mombrea, who recounts in excruciating detail his company's experience publishing iOS apps, and, worse, updates to iOS apps."
That's simple: the walled garden is where the money is.
The article does not describe any actions they take to make the above not true, so it appears that they broke Apple's rules. What can they expect?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Unless one is in an early stage startup and needs the Android revenue to afford the $1250 startup cost for iOS development ($650 Mac mini, $500 iPad, $100 certificate).
Dude, if you can't afford to invest $1250 in your startup, you can't afford to invest in your startup. The guy who rides the ice cream bike around the 'hood had a higher startup cost what with the custom cooler-bike, dry ice, ice cream, and business license.
What we have here...Is failure to communicate.
What we have here ... Is a deliberate failure to communicate.
FTFY.
Explaining policies would expose inconsistencies and cost money in additional staff hours.
Apple is not the first company that decided to create a couple of layers between customer support and customers.
It sucks that he can't get through to the reviewers. That said, his app is clearly violating Apple's guidelines. There's no ambiguity or inconsistency here: you cannot use your app to direct users to buy things from you without using the in-app purchase system. (Yes, this requirement blows goats. But it is clear and straightforward.) He gets rejected once for directing users to purchase an account at their website in the app description. His solution to this isn't the logical step of *remove the offending bit*, it's *remove it and replace it with a button that does the same thing.* And he's surprised it gets rejected again? If ever he does get ahold of the review team, they aren't going to give a shit about his "but it isn't convenient or sensible for us or our users" excuse - of course it isn't! This rule wasn't convenient or sensible for the Kindle app either, but them's the rules in the walled garden and the reviewers aren't going to give him special treatment. (TBH I wouldn't be surprised if they ultra-low-prioritized his requests in favor of responding to developers who have actual fixable issues.)
The entire Apple ecosystem is way overpriced, from their consumer products to their stock, as well as all the little "apps" that run on those things.
Get out of the cabin much? I guess not when you are claiming apps that range generally in price for $1 to $5 are "way overpriced".
I would call you gramps but you have that really high UID...
I resent the idea that I'm supposed to waste so much of my time to fiddle with some little pocket device encumbered with a thousand patents to text and email people who don't have the time to communicate in real life
Only fools live to suit the devices they own.
I do none of that, instead my device is there to serve as *I* wish, providing data on demand. How much poorer a life when you do not have that ability on tap constantly.
You need to look at the big picture of what you're developing apps for. Someday people will realize and learn to work with the inherent limitations of interfacing with a little piece-of-junk device that fits in your pocket,
Funny you should mention the big picture; I have already seen it. It's a world where people find the small devices rock-solid compared to the "fiddly" world of PC's they came from. That's what you fail to understand, for non-technical users the desktop is the thing that is limiting and fiddly, the pocket devices the thing they turn to when the just want to do something without fuss and have vastly greater ability to use software to amplify human ability.
It is why I had been looking for a way to switch into mobile development full time since the early smart phone days, and jumped into it full time with the release of the iOS SDK. You don't have to be a genius to see which way the world will go, you just have to stop and consider what most people will probably do.
That is a truth that lives outside of brand; even if iOS faltered Android of WP8 would simply take over the same role. The PC is not a thing most people would want to use, tablets and mobile smartphones are.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley