App rejection
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Serious game developers tripped up by App Store rules
If you're a developer hoping to raise awareness about a political or cultural issue with your app, you should read this article on serious game development from Polygon reporter Tracey Lien. Lien profiles several indie developers whose game titles were rejected because they were designed to inform users and not necessarily entertain. We've covered some of these high-profile rejections in the past, including Endgame:Syria and Sweatshop HD. Lien talks to these developers about the challenges of working with Apple on these controversial titles. It brings to light the sometimes arbitrary nature of App Store rejections and Apple's refusal to reverse its decision when it has rejected a title. In the case of Endgame:Syria, the game was repeatedly denied entrance to the iOS App Store because its Syrian conflict storyline violated an App Store policy prohibiting "content or features that include people from a specific race, culture, government, corporation, or other real entity as enemies in the context of the game." Rawlings notes that this targeted group clause in the App Store is not enforced consistently. He points to games with a World War 2 theme that have the Nazis as a targeted enemy to illustrate the inconsistency of Apple in these bans. Rawlings battled Apple over his rejection, but finally gave up after his third app revision and even his appeal was denied. The developer ditched his original app and released Endgame: Eurasia, a game with a fictional war that was only a shell of the former Syrian title. You can read about other app rejections in the Polygon article, and the chilling effect this broad ban hammer is having on game developers looking to change the world with their apps.
Microsoft removes Imagewind from Marketplace, WP7 gets first bitter taste of rejection
Oh, sure, it was easy to pick on Apple for all those frustrating App Store rejections over the years, but Google's had its own run-ins with apps being pulled under unfortunate circumstances, and now it's time for WP7 users to get a taste. Microsoft has pulled is thinking about pulling Imagewind from the Windows Phone Marketplace, an app that basically pulls random images en masse from the Twitter-stream, splaying them all over your touchscreen. MS indicated that, without some sort of filter to weed out seedy images, the app has to go. Somewhat curiously it's actually been chilling in the Marketplace since March 3rd, and it was only upon reviewing a recent update that someone in Redmond said "Hey, waitaminute!" Imagewind is now gone and honestly we can't say that its rejection is completely arbitrary -- displaying all images the all the time is not necessarily a good thing for sensitive eyes -- but it still stings, doesn't it? Update: We got a note from Roger at Smarty Pants Coding to let us know that he's received a "grace period" for the app. It's still available for download, but it could be a limited time thing... Update 2: Another note from Roger. The stay of execution has been... unstayed. The app is no more. Break out the trumpets.
Apple reconsiders rejected iPhone apps, C64 emulator on the way?
We're always a little hesitant to get too optimistic about changes to the App Store approval process, but it looks like there's been a few hopeful changes to the way things are done in the past few days, which could well lead to some previously rejected apps becoming available. Perhaps the most encouraging sign is that Apple seems to actually be going back through rejected apps and contacting develops to resubmit their app (without any changes, mind you) for an "expedited review." One such app is the Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery, which was rejected for using Shepard Fairey's famous "HOPE" image of Barack Obama on the grounds that it "ridicules public figures." In other App Store news, the developer of the officially-licensed C64 emulator also says that it was contacted by a senior director at Apple, who reportedly said that there was "BIG news coming," but didn't elaborate any further. But, really, is there any news bigger than a C64 emulator? Read - TechCrunch, "Apple Continues To Right App Store Wrongs. Obama "Hope" App Is Go." Read - MacNN, "Apple reconsidering C64 Emulator for iPhone?"
Is Apple's Phil Schiller trying to free the App Store from arbitrary app rejections?
We've certainly seen plenty of curious rejections for seemingly innocuous applications submitted for inclusion in the App Store, and recently saw Phil Schiller stepping forward to explain one of the most mind-boggling of rejections yet: a dictionary that had the gall to define naughty words. Apparently that's becoming something of a mission of Schiller's, investigating apps that have been rejected, personally contacting developers in some cases, and in general working to make things right... or at least less wrong. However, from what we can see he's only being sent in when word hits the wire about the latest sorry app being sent packing; we're not sure whether he's working to correct all illogical app rejections, or only those that make the news. He is the VP of Marketing, so it wouldn't be entirely surprising for him to only be concerned about Apple's public image, but for now we'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's also working to make wholesale improvements on the approval process over in Cupertino -- if only because we're sure the FCC won't be so kind.
Magic trick developers find the trick is on them
Update: The CEO of Theory11 wrote TechCrunch to say that, after Phil Schiller got involved, the Rising Card app was approved and is now on the store. Here's the iTunes link, and it's $2.99.Just when you thought the App Store approval process could not get any weirder comes word that the developers of magic tricks for the iPhone are coming under increased scrutiny from the gatekeepers at Apple.According to the iTricks website, developer Chris Kenner's Rising Card app has been sitting in App Store limbo after Apple suggested the app might violate their guidelines.Which guideline might that be? Consumer confusion of course. The developers respond that many tricks rely on confusing the consumer, that's how people get fooled. The dust-up is causing many magic trick developers to have second thoughts about the App Store. They may re-do their trick as a web app, or work to find some way around Apple.One magic developer, Hotrix, is selling so called 'Premier' apps that don't require the App Store at all. It works well, but I'm not at liberty to divulge how they are doing it.One of my colleagues quite correctly points out that Apple has not been overly long in the approval process, and the apps are likely held up because they mess with some of the strict iPhone interface guidelines. Apple is setting the 'confusion' bar pretty low, but one can understand both sides in this controversy. Gerald Kirchner, who runs Magic City and has produced some first class magic apps, sees the dilemma. "Apple has a point when they say the spectator would be confused, as the iPhone is not "working correctly". Apple is all about the "Apple experience", in a way, we magicians are taking that "Apple experience" away. There is an app in Cydia that I love that makes it look like your friend breaks your phone and cracks the screen. It is great fun, but does Apple really want to condone software that makes it look like you broke their device. It sucks, because I make a lot of these tricks, but I understand Apples views."Still, it would be nice if the App Store had consistent guidelines. We've been all over that topic, but the issues remain.Advice to Apple: Be careful about messing with someone who has a magic wand.Thanks Harrison for the tip.
App Store rejections tied to third party rights infringements
See update from Apple PR at the bottom of the post. Despite what at least one developer was told, the ebook category is not 'banned from the store.' Apple recently invited a great deal of criticism after it rejected Google's Google Voice application from App Store. At the same time, it pulled third party GV apps leaving their developers without recourse and forced to swallow refund costs that exceeded their initial per-sale earnings. Today Engadget notes Daring Fireball's story of a simple dictionary being censored. Now it looks as if Apple may be targeting the e-book section of App Store. TUAW has learned that Apple has begun rejecting all e-book submissions because "this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing upon third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store." At first glance, this policy seems in line with Apple's approach to applications that promise charitable contributions. Apple cannot police the developers and will not allow possibly fraudulent postings on their store. Apple does not want to be in the position of vetting rights claims. At the same time, Apple has been rejecting applications from content providers who do in fact own the rights to their materials and can prove those rights. A colleague who spoke on the condition of anonymity related that a project he developed for a national content syndicate was rejected without recourse. He still got paid for his work but the application languishes without an outlet. Apple isn't stopping with content source providers. They're also targeting those who provide media browsing tools. Another developer who built an e-book reader received a recent rejection along the same lines. The application might be used to read copyright infringing books, so Apple will not let it in App Store. In an e-mail, he wrote, "Leaving aside the presumption of innocence, [what] about iTunes and iPod; shouldn't they be banned too? After all many users indeed are using them to listen to the music that is not always legally obtained." It's obviously premature to assign an external motivation to Apple and TUAW has no evidence whatsoever that Apple is using these rejections to pave its way to a new market. At the same time, the timing of these rejections couldn't be worse. With Apple rumored to enter the e-book market sometime in the winter, this new policy could fly very close to regulatory scrutiny. Update Apple wrote to TUAW to clear up the speculation around ebook app approvals. From a representative at Apple: "We have not stopped approving ebook readers and ebooks in fact we've approved 221 new ebooks to the App Store since 7/30/09. The book category in the App Store lists 6,000 apps and this doesn't cover the full scope since ebooks are included in other categories like medical, reference and education."
