A reviewer at the iTunes app store recently rejected a simple application Joel Comm had submitted due to “limited functionality.”
In this video, Comm appeals directly to Steve Jobs to make the review process more transparent and consistent:
Direct link via YouTube here.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, that’s right, we said “idiot.” Where’s the consistency, Apple?
Once again: We don’t know if Apple’s problem is: (a) the quality of the staff they’ve hired to flip the coins they use to determine app approvals; (b) if said staff is totally overwhelmed; (c) if said “staff” is really just that lone not-so-smart MobileMe launch guy whom the new, more mellow Steve didn’t have the heart to fire; or (e) all of the above, but they really ought to have worked it out by now.
Apple’s only considerations should be to make sure apps do not harm the device and/or encourage physically harming others, directly or indirectly. That’s why we immediately condemned that despicable “Baby Shaker” app and applauded Apple for nixing it. Of course, it never should have been approved in the first place, but we already knew that Apple’s app approval process had major issues long before that particular SNAFU. (And, by the way,” for those that want to bring up FPS or similarly violent games: A defenseless infant is actually different than an armed soldier. If you’re ever in an actual war, you’re supposed to fight the enemy; if you’re ever holding a real baby, you’re never, ever to shake him or her.)
Apps are supposed to evolve over time and if it’s getting where this developer isn’t able to cut the mustard, then someone else is going to have to do it. Survival of the fittest my friend!
A note to all mobile developers, create all your applications and summit them into Windows Mobile Marketplace. iPhone is a failure and so does all of their inferior toys from CRAPple.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
For the record, there are fart apps for Blackberry and Android as well.
But I guess those are superior devices with higher standards.
This is NOT about the KaChing button. It’s about consistency.
That developer is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT (and kudos for producing an entertaining and respectful video to make your point)! Developers have given the iPhone it’s number one distinction in the marketplace which competitors can’t touch – 100,000 applications!
All he’s asking for is a level playing field. A developer needs to know that if he follows the rules, the application will get approved. This is a fundamental cornerstone of the whole idea of a meritocracy, which is what makes the App Store so great.
But as it stands now, the rules seem be applied inconsistently. Developers will be discouraged from spending their time and resources to develop apps if they have doubts about the approval process.
Steve,
Apply the rules consistently. It’s no big deal.
-Developers
Someone is pretending to be me…
This comment is NOT mine…
“Allright settle down. I get it. Just because I am successful you think I am arrogant. I have a Mac and an iPhone and as an Apple customer I have every right to demand whatever I want from Apple. They have every right to disregard my demands. As for Steve Jobs, he is great but he needs to make my ka-ching app get approved ASAP so that I can make some ka-ching off it and off the poor saps that waste money on my silly little half apps. Comm out.”
Just setting the record straight.
@Joel
Perhaps a reasonable compromise would be for Apple to produce a category in the ITunes store that is Novelty Apps. Your critique of fairness may have the unintended effect of having all such apps of “limited functionality” removed from the App store. That would certainly appeal to your sense of fairness while not achieving your desired result. The approach in your video is more likely to have this effect because you take the tone of being critical of a system that you are dependent on for approval of your work rather than a helpful suggestion and a follow up as to why apps like yours are in any way good for the app store ecosystem. You present a strong argument in precedent but a severely weak argument as to why apps like yours should be admitted and the one’s already admitted should not be banished.
As for you neo-free marketers out there you have the capability to jailbreak your phones and put any garbage you want on your IPhone but you can’t dictate to Apple what to allow in their stores and support on their platforms. I’m with the majority of posters here that feel the App store has become unwieldily. Even apps that are useful in functionality are sometime lacking in completeness. Clogging the pipes with more novelty apps is not the answer.
i’ve got a turkey gobble button coming out to the appstore soon
it will say “gobble gobble” when you press the turkey picture! kaching for me and right in time for thanksgiving!
@ Joel
not sure which of any of these comments are actually from you but happy thanksgiving and hope you get your app problem sorted out with Apple
i think apple should remove all the low functionality apps or else make a crap app category that does not get front page press by the appstore and apple
No wonder the approval process is so difficult, just look at the different views on this forum.
Apple needs to let the developers develop, even if theyre dumb apps. The last thing Apple needs is a developer revolt.
Planar, it should be easy to see which are from me and which are a 12-year old fanboy having fun.
Everyone has an opinion and no one is perfect.
@bobchr I think you’re approach is a valid one. Why not have Apple endorsed apps and a section that is more experimental?
Any direction would be fine actually. Accept all apps, accepts apps only from trusted, accept arbitrarily.
I think what’s been revealed with all the recent dissent is that Apple has not correctly set developer expectations nor communicated well.
Many complaints aren’t that developers don’t like the rules, but that they don’t know them or they don’t seem to be applied consistently.
At the end of the day, I suspect this is really a result of Apple being so overwhelmed and short-staffed in the review process.
No one should be allowed to decide what I put on my iPhone. It is censorship, and bad. If I want to make a fool of myself by using something like iFart, then that is my decision.
On the other hand, I have not installed any new apps for months, since I don’t want to wade through a pile of crap apps to find something useful.
Apple should turn this into something positive.
– Step 1: Create an “open” app store, where every possible app is listed. Download at your own risk, and show off with silly or tasteless apps as much as you want.
– Step 2 : Create a “premium” app store. All the apps there have been verified and approved. All the crap is removed from the premium store, only the useful apps stay.
It’s about freedom, and freedom to decide what you want, with respect for every one else’s taste or decision.
Just my 5 cents from Europe
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why not just have a novelty section and be done with it.
Wow! That app must have been a huge investment in time and effort, not to mention ingenuity.
Is Comm’s app stupid? Yes. Is it any more stupid than a zillion others out there? No.
Really, there needs to be consistency in this process. Or a separate category for all the “crap apps”.
Apple Steve Jobs to Joel Comm:
The “Ka-Ching” has minimal user functionality for an iPhone app and is rejected.
“It’s not that big of a deal”!
Hugs and Kisses
Steve
Yeah Steve. Do something about it before people dump the App Store and work for some other platforms. (and very great video by the way) ^_^
I’m can see Sum Jung Gai’s viewpoint when he says:
“No UNDUE offense intended, but isn’t it conceivable that Joel Comm is an idiot too?”
Maybe it’s a case of Apple coming to the view that the sort of apps being approved need to have a higher standard than many of the apps we’ve seen in the past.
I don’t begrudge Joel Comm’s right to make money from making apps. However I do object to the concept of being surrounded by farting iPhones while I’m on a train for 45 minutes. I have an iPhone too and I won’t be contributing to that.
I would buy the Chaching button. Back off reviewers!!!!! Keep the apps safe and stable, respect copyrights etc., and then rate everything else. It’s far better to have a stupid app category than a stupid app review process.
I’m a Mac fanboy and if you had a stupid apps category or whatever you wanted to call it, silly, useless, novelty, I would actively use that search category. the same goes for tasteless, or political, or adult content, (accessed only by a second level account process) and/or parental controls.
As an APPL stockholder, I’m asking you to get it together before somebody else eats your lunch and you have pissed away another opportunity to lead a platform for a generation or two.
the only app I can find by this guy is basically an app that dupes his website. no wonder it was rejected. in fact I can’t help but wonder if he did it so he could be rejected and have an excuse to post his little rant.
as for the whole control issue, Apple is trying to make sure you have a working phone when you need it and not have it bricked by some yahoo that can’t write decent code, what’s wrong with that.
and i believe that Grand Theft Auto has an adults only rating so the parents can block it if they choose to. but so called mature adults can leave parental controls turned off and those no yelling about censorship. however Baby Shaker could actually be illegal in some states because it promotes the notion of child abuse as cool
Let’s take up a collection and fund some schooling for “I’m a PC”. He at least needs a spelling and grammar tutor.
Now watch him quickly scroll back to his post and try to figure out what is wrong with it. I guess English is not his native language.
@WTF his company is infomedia, search that.. iFart, iVote etc
Are people actually watching the video before they post comments?
Doesn’t matter if the app is crap, that’s not the point of the video..
@Dave
The video may have it’s own point but that doesn’t negate people from finding other issues with it.
Just because you don’t like the app, doesn’t mean it isn’t worthy, for some it is… for me not at all… but that isn’t the point is it? All he is asking for is a framework to work in. Apple… tell him why his is different from the rest, don’t waste his time? Why is his sound, any different from the Whooo button? And for the knucklehead that says an free application isn’t making Apple money…. your clueless.. At the very least… it’s a number and Apple sure seems to be marketing that number… aren’t they…. 100,000 Apps “insert Whooo button here”… Every iphone is unique, simply due to the applications the user has selected… Time to by a new phone? ….. can’t switch if the applications aren’t duplicated on other platforms.
Thinking about useless apps and wasting money for it, I assumed that it happens because of no MoneyBack policy in AppStore. In common stores (online and offline) it’s common practice. Why not implement it to the AppStore? technically Apple can do it.