michaelmistretta.com

Brett Peters on The Keys To The Kingdom -

By rejecting applications based on whim instead of policy, Apple has brought every developer’s fear to pass — that they can invest time working on an application, only to have it arbitrarily never make it to market. This in turn drives developers to other platforms, and encourages those who stay on it to take fewer risks. And that leads to fewer truly great applications on the iPhone.

This debate has been sparked by Apple rejecting an application that would turn your iPhone into a Whoopie Cushion. The app doesn’t violate any part of Apple’s guidelines, yet it was rejected due to its “limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community”.

The restrictiveness of the AppStore makes sense on a mobile platform. But it remains unclear whether Apple is just filter for malicious apps, or if they have the ultimate authority on whether an app is deemed “acceptable” for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. When the AppStore launched, many complained about the sheer amount of junk and useless apps cluttering up the store. Now those same people are complaining about the rejection of a “useless” app.

Apple needs to have a consistent policy. They need to treat the AppStore like Mac development. Apple shouldn’t be the third-party that determines if iPhone users want the application—let the iPhone users do that. Create a better system for good apps to move to the top, and the ‘noise’ will be left in the dark corners of the AppStore.

Really, that’s Apple’s only hope for the AppStore. If developers feel that an application is not worth developing simply because Apple may reject it, the number of innovative, new iPhone apps will diminish.

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