Ars Technica reports on Apple rejecting iPhone applications without offering an explanation. Of particular note:
Marco Arment, lead developer of Tumblr and creator of Instapaper, chronicled the situation on his blog. On the last day of WWDC ’09, Apple had a session dedicated to the process of publishing an iPhone app to its App Store. The session ended early, and lines of developers formed at the microphones to ask questions—ostensibly concerning App Store rejections and how best to resolve issues identified in the review process. However, at the end of the presentation, the presenter and other engineers quickly exited the room, leaving the assembled developers scratching their heads.
“It was a giant middle finger to iPhone developers,” wrote Arment. “Clearly, they had absolutely no interest in fielding even a single question from the topic that we have the most questions about.”
And later, as reported on tuaw.com, one unlucky developer got this in their e-mail:
“As you know, Apple reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject any application for any reason.”
So if you plan to develop for the iPhone, this is what you’re getting into. You’re at the mercy of Apple, and they may not even tell you why you can’t sell the application you just spent hours or days working on.
No other computing platform, anywhere, has one company deciding what can and can’t run on it. (And yes, I realize it may seem odd to call the iPhone a computing platform, but that is in effect what it is: a computer that can also make telephone calls.)
I believe the developers, at minimum, have the right to know why Apple rejects an application. However, I also believe a far wiser choice, one that might just get Apple’s attention, is for developers to stay away in droves until Apple takes a more hands-off approach with regards to the iPhone platform.
Personally, I believe the only valid reason for rejection of an iPhone application is if it has the potential to cause harm to the mobile networks that the iPhone connects to. I should note here, “harm” does not include the following:
- letting the user make phone calls over a VoIP network like Skype or Gizmo;
- content that Apple finds objectionable or that in Apple’s judgment does not belong on a mobile phone;
- parodying Apple, AT&T, O2, or other carriers which Apple partners with;
- any of the other reasons Apple has for rejecting applications for the iPhone.
It’ll probably be a cold day in hell before that actually becomes reality, however. I’m not going to wait.