iPhone developer rejection letter mass mailing
If you've applied for Apple's iPhone Developer program, check email for your rejection letter. The twitterati are reporting widespread disappointment and anger as thousands of iPhone developer hopefuls have received a "Thank you but no thank you" message in their inbox. The emails are arriving with the subject of iPhone Developer Program Enrollment Status.
Did you get accepted? Do you know anyone who did? Let us know in the comments. Some readers are reporting acceptance -- if you've been accepted please send us some more details -- but they appear to be confusing the iPhone online developer SDK download with the "iPhone developer program," which you can learn more about at Apple's site. What we are talking about here is the $99 signup for the developer program, which includes a signing certificate to allow applications to run on physical iPhones and not just in the Aspen simulator. Just because you have downloaded the Xcode SDK components does not make you an iPhone dev Jedi -- if you haven't paid your $99, or you haven't been invited to pay it, you have no lightsaber.
Corporations have been rejected and so have individuals. Premiere members, Select members, Online members, all rejected. To be clear, these rejections are not for the general iPhone SDK download program but for the paid $99 developer/AppStore access program. I have not been able to confirm any acceptances into this latter program.
Out of country developers are reporting slightly different rejections. One anonymous developer received this message: "At this time, the iPhone Developer Program is only available in the US, and will expand to other countries during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time."
An absolutely LOL moment from Daniel Jalkut, which I quote in full: "In other news, it looks like the Jailbreak Developer Program still has open slots, and people are getting approved as I type."
TUAW reader UO perfectly summarizes the dilemma: "I got a rejection this morning too. What if I never get accepted? Spending that much time (until June?) working on code I may never be able to ship is an unacceptable risk right now."
Dear Registered iPhone Developer, Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. As this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time. Thank you for applying. Best regards, iPhone Developer Program
And just one more reminder: this is less about 'rejection' than it is about developers being unable to commit resources when Apple won't give a firm go-ahead. Feel free to think about it as a "limbogram" rather than an outright rejection.
Unconfirmed insider reports are trickling in. One blue & green anonymous tipster tells us that Apple has yet to set up its certificate management system and cannot issue developer certs until this is finished and put in place. While this doesn't explain why Apple sent out its letters worded the way they were, it might explain why TUAW cannot find a single developer who has documentedly been accepted into the system.
