Apple Has Removed Dash from the App Store (kapeli.com)

Popular API documentation browser Dash was pulled from the App Store this week after a routine migration request, its developer Bogdan Popescu wrote in a blog post. He said the migration was successful, but some features in iTunes Connect weren't available during account migration, Apple warned him. Later in the day, Apple sent another email saying the app has been pulled because of "fraudulent conduct," and did not offer any explanation. From the post: Today I called them and they confirmed my account migration went through and that everything is okay as far as they can tell. A few hours ago I received a "Notice of Termination" email, saying that my account was terminated due to fraudulent conduct. I called them again and they said they can't provide more information. Update: Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I've never done. Apple's decision is final and can't be appealed.Apple blogger Federico Viticci said. "This seems like a major screwup. Apple dev relationships should fix this soon." Marco Arment, the co-founder of Tumblr and founder of Instapaper, said This is a story with two major paths: Either the developer did something to deserve the rug being pulled out from under, something worthy of their developer credentials being cancelled. Or there's a colossal misunderstanding here. I suspect there's more to this than meets the eye. Either way, don't think this is the way this should have played out.

Comments

Re:Did it make Apple's developer docs usable again

[TechyImmigrant]

>I'm not sure what the Dash app does or how it works

It is an application that lets you easily pull in documentation for hundreds of libraries and languages for offline reading and searching.
I find it immensely useful. I use it to keep the docs for for pretty much anything I have ever used (languages, libraries, tools). Pulling the documentation in is a case of typing in the name and clicking on the thing you want.

I comes into its own if you travel on planes and find that an ideal time to do some uninterrupted programming.

Re:It will keep happening

[ragahast]

Here are a few:
Breathe
Konfabulator
Patenting an app's features, using pictures of the app itself.
Examples of features taken from apps (not necessarily kicking them out)
Blog post of dev whose animated weather app was refused shortly before Apple implemented the same thing

I'm sure there's more, but it's too depressing to keep searching for them. Honestly, as an academic/scientific programmer I feel like I could never try to write a commercial application. Any idea you have is already present in an overbroad patent owned by someone with deeper pockets than you.