App Store dejection process - now Rogue Amoeba leaves the flock

This is undoubtedly an attempt to get enough media attention that Phil Schiller will contact them and make things right. They have a point about the aprovals process being slow with little communication, but we also have to look at it from Apple's point of view. There's no way for them to flawlessly handle the kind of demand the App Store has created. Despite their big earnings Apple is still a relatively small company with limited resources. They're under a lot of pressure and this developer knows that making a fuss on public is the only way to get Apple's attention. They'll be back in the iPhone business within weeks.

apple == nazis

Rogue Amoeba, you "were" the best developer I have ever met. 

But now, you decided to leave the iPhone world, know this: 

I BANISH YOU FROM LAND OF APPLE! 

You must give up developing applications for mac. You give up iPhone developement, you also must give up Mac development as well. It's either keep both, or give up both. You're choice. 

Apple's review process will take a long time. The reason: Reading and Reviewing Application, One Line of code at a time. Complex apps like Facebook, or even Airfoil will take longer time, since the code is complex, and long. By reviewing apps one code at a time, Apple is keeping the iPhone safe and sound, detecting whether the apps are malicious or somewhat virus like. (Android marketplace has no review process, and it's just a matter of time before a virus app gets into the marketplace)

I hope this sets a TREN and finally the APPLE people in charge take their heads out of their A$$es and stop smelling their own Shhhit....  I sympathize with the DEVS on this one because APPLE does not care they get paid no matter what. So I hope more and more DEVS let APPLE know how frustrated they are !   REVOLUTION BABY ! 

I'm sorry, but if you think RA makes crappy applications, you're an IDIOT.  I use Airfoil all the time, and it expands the capabilities of the very limited Airport Express in ways Apple wishes they had thought of.  Their apps are small, efficient and useful - exactly what the iPhone needs.  I don't think for a second that them leaving the iPhone app development world is going to hurt Apple's bottom line, but it's not a good sign, when someone who is almost exclusively an Apple-related developer decides to cease application development for one of the premier platforms out there because of stupid bureaucracy.

--Matt

In general this company makes some really great products and utilities for the Mac.  It is really too bad that Apple is not willing to work with them on this because I think it would be a mistake to ignore the iTouch/iPhone market.

Steve Jobs runs Apple, not Hewitt or Kafasis.  Let the door hit'em where the pitt bull should have bit'em!

The approval process is good, both for the developer and the consumer. Read the SDK documentation and you'll see they are pushing for higher quality apps. I do think Apple is slowly, too slowly, improving their process, and am optimistic as a developer.

However, I wish they would change the fundamentals a bit more to make it more developer friendly and encourage better testing, and more creativity

Better testing : to get you app tested, developers need to secure UDIDs from beta testers. This is very difficult, and as a results skews your testers to the more techy crowd. You can use apps to get UDID off of phones (Ad Hoc Helper, Nextive), but it's still too difficult/expensive. If Apple made it easier, you'd get more apps tested by their target demographic, get more feedback, and the app would be less buggy in the first version that goes submitted. That would help get rid of the silly errors that clog the Apple review process. How about a simple, beta-code generator that you email to say, where anyone receiving it can test your app? Apple could impose the same 100-testers per year limit as they do now.

More creativity needs to be at the focus of Apple app store. With the push to getting bigger brands involved, I worry about the small developer who has a great idea but doesn't have the $$ to stay in the game. If Apple doesn't help these developers market their app, it's a total loss, as marketing amidst 100k apps is difficult and expensive. My recommendation is that Apple waive its 30% revenue share UNTIL the app has generated $10k in total revenue. That way Apple has the incentive to promote/find ways to get users to find the new apps -- if they don't then Apple doesn't make any money until the developer has made some. May not cover the app developer's time spent, but at least you aren't robbing precious dollars, while not providing any help. If Apple helps with marketing/discovery, then the 30% is worth it. Let's align the incentives here.