As has been widely reported at this point, we are very sorry to announce that Apple removed our VoiceCentral app from the App Store. This happened suddenly, swiftly and with virtually no advance notice from Apple.
Repeated emails yesterday to Apple have still been ignored at this point. We did receive a voicemail at our main office from the same Richard who called our competitor. Unfortunately it wasn’t until today that we were able to connect for our “conversation”. The word conversation really doesn’t cover it because what transpired was not informative by design and felt like theater of the absurd. It went roughly like this:
Richard: “I’m calling to let you know that VoiceCentral has been removed from the App Store because it duplicates features of the iPhone.”
Me: “I don’t understand that reasoning. By that logic wouldn’t apps like Textfree, Skype, fring, or iCall be considered duplicates?”
Richard: “I can’t discuss other apps with you.”
Me: “It’s not the apps themselves I want to discuss just the lack of consistency in rule enforcement.”
Richard: “I can only say that yours duplicates features of the iPhone and was causing confusion in the user community. It’s against our policy.”
Me: “So what has changed that it is now against policy? It has been in the store for the last 4 months with no problem. There wasn’t a problem for the 1.5 months prior to that when you were ‘reviewing’ it. And this didn’t come up with any of the updates we submitted after it was already in the store.”
Richard: “I can’t say – only that yours is not complying with our policy.”
Me: “Can you tell me what portions of the app were duplicate features?”
Richard: “I can’t go into granular detail.”
Me: “Is there something we can change or alter in order to regain compliance and get back in the Store?”
Richard: “I can’t say.”
Me: “Well if we can’t figure out the issue then how will we know whether to resubmit the app. And how will we know whether to invest in any other development efforts? Future apps could be impacted.”
Richard: “I can’t help you with that”
Me: “So how do we know whether it is still viable for us to consider Apple a partner if this is how the scenario plays out. If you were in my shoes would you continue to invest blood, sweat, tears and money in something that can be killed off at any moment without your say so?”
Richard: “I understand your point but I can’t help you with that.”
Me: “Surely someone there at Apple asked you to make this phone call. Can I speak with that person about this?”
Richard: “I am the only one you can speak with on this subject.”
Me: “There has to be someone there I can actually have a back and forth with so that we can make some strategic decisions on whether this partnership makes any sense.”
Richard: “You can only talk to me”
Me: “Nothing personal since I know you have just been tasked to make this call but we aren’t really talking here. There’s no back and forth and you aren’t allowed to answer any questions. Can I implore you to ask your managers if there is anyone who would be willing to speak with me and have a real conversation? I don’t care if it needs to be off the record or we need to sign another top-secret NDA but we really have nothing to go on at this point. We will need to make business decisions on whether it makes any sense to continue developing.”
Richard: “I will relay that to my managers.”
Now please understand some things lost in the writing of the above dialogue:
- First and foremost, the above is quoted just for grammatical presentation and none of it should be considered actual quotations. The conversation followed that basic path but included several other pleasantries and elements that I eliminated so it didn’t get any longer than it already was.
- Second, while I knew early on that our little chat wasn’t going to go anywhere I felt it my personal mission to make him understand the difficulty of the position it puts us in. As in: We are just a small business trying to make it in these tough times and yet we will have to answer to our shared customers so give us something we can tell them.
- Finally, Richard was extremely professional and very nice in every way. He was however absolutely impenetrable when it came to getting useful information. But in the end he was the messenger and we will not shoot him. We simply hope that he does in fact relay my heartfelt request for a real conversation to his management. Hopefully one of them will be empowered enough to take us up on that.
Where do we go from here?
There’s a lot of speculation all over today about who’s to blame. Is it Apple? AT&T?
I’d like to know that answer too. I have my opinion on it but that’s not all that important. What is far more important is the way it was handled. Once again the developer is treated terrible, given no data, and left to go back empty-handed, palms up to the collective user community.
We won’t make any rash decisions until the smoke clears a little over the next few days. We are going to do some more digging and weigh some more options before we announce our plans. But we will say this: someone at Apple owes us a better explanation if not an apology. (My preference would be to speak with Steve Jobs but so far we have not had a response to our email.)
What can you do?
Complain to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Complain to AT&T: 1-800-331-0500
Stay tuned for more info and announcements here and via Twitter. If you have the app already please know that it will continue to function “as is” for the moment, it will just be impossible for us to provide fixes and improvements obviously. Also spread this blog post so that maybe Apple will get the message even if Richard didn’t come through!
Tags: Things We Don't Like
I had this same basic kind of thing happen to me when I was approached by Apple for a position as a store “Genius”. If they won’t tell you what the issue is, why would you bother to hold out hope? I also don’t like Apple being able to just pull the rug out from under developers. Do they not care about developers wanting to write apps for their platform?
Also, and much to the contrary of what’s written elsewhere by so-called “Apple Fanbois” the iPhone/iPod OS is becoming a common platform just like Mac OS X is for full computers. Being able to deep-six stuff that represents competition would be, to my mind, a violation of anti-trust laws. And given that Apple’s chief partner in this endeavor is a widely known anti-trust violator, it really starts to make a reasonable person wonder.
I’m glad the FCC, in this particular case, is going after Apple and AT&T. They need to be kept honest here, as it seems that (at least potentially) Apple and AT&T are not being honest brokers.
I had purchased GV Mobile, and sadly enough, lost it when my phone got bricked when the 3.1 beta 2 expired this past month (didn’t have a backup).
I’m on the developer program, but will not develop for this platform. As amazing as it is, it’s backed by a company that brings more bullsh*t to the table than anyone I’ve known before.
I hope that the FCC brings about a change in this whole babysitting process that Apple is trying to do. While I understand they’re trying to keep up some standards, using their approval process, or even their post-approval process, to remove apps that “duplicate” features, or implement features they don’t like, is too controlling.
Best of luck to you GV Mobile developers, and while I’m kinda ticked I spent money on an application that I won’t be able to use anymore, you don’t have to worry about a refund request from me.
LOL. I was a Mac/Apple fanboy *until* the iPhone(y)
I have one and feel I went backwards [from a treo680].
The entire “Apple will control what is allowed on *Apple’s* phone” is rediculous!
I’d Love to see them try that with the iPod or the Macs. Sales would flat out end.
The treos, you can get programs (that don’t need Palm’s approval just to exist) from anywhere, install yourself, and no back royalties to Palm. Nor can Palm remove programs from the treo over the air. (apple can)
Seems we don’t *own* our iPhones, just license/rent them from Apple
Steve Jobs appears to model himself after Henry Ford, You can have the Model T in any color you want, as long as its black”
NS Basic made a development package, but Apple said no.
(I hate dumb dictators)
I am not going to waste my time complaining to Apple or AT&T. I will do so just to prove I did, but I am contacting the FCC with my official complaint.
(Apple)T&T can ignore us individually, but they cannot ignore the FCC. If enough of us complain about these various problems to the FCC, at the very least AppleT&T will feel the pain also.
Personally, I like the phone. But I am not going to continue to be tired to a phone that the maker can change the rules at their pleasure.
-atazerxes
…did it ever occur to any of you that RICHARD is actually an AI bot (Alice’ big brother)?
Well there is always Web/OS. Palm might be more interested in suporting app developers.
Dude how can you run a business like that? Ditch Apple and develop apps for one of their competitors who will treat you better.
I know Apple has the bigger market share. But what good is that when they’ve just kicked you to the kerb?
Hi,
I can’t understand the Apple policy. I’ve stop developped app for iPhone, because lot of time wasted for 2 rejections.
Apple, I don’t need your AppStore for Live ! Hasta La Diarea !
My thought is that the solution is simple. When two Conglomerates come together and do not take the customers and developers needs and well being to heart; the only solution is to put the two Conglomerates against each other.
You and I are fly’s to them, we could not raise enough capital to take them to a legal proceeding. However if all developers jail broke their phones and switched to a new carrier I am sure AT&T would get tired of losing customers and would pressure Apple into confirming to a specific standard.
I don’t like it either. That’s why I’m keeping my iPhone jailbroken till I can’t do it anymore. I’ve got a 3GS and it’s happily jailbroken: backgrounds, stack, extra programs that let me see processes, file systems and all. There’s SO much that these phones can do that Apple is neutering that it’s sick, all for their profit.
We too have given up developing for the iPhone. Apple’s process is arduous and too time consuming and is a joke…we will continue to develop for Microsoft Mobile devices where the developer process is usually seamless.
I decided not to buy an Iphone when it came out because it was only available via contract. I played with someone else’s Itouch and found it much less use than a touch screen phone, where I get all the features of thr Iphone I need for less,
Apple’s policy is making me seriously look at moving to Windows for my next laptop. The machines are far cheaper for an equivalent spec and I can partition the disc and put on Linux if I want. I need to look at my favourite applications and decide what I can live without. Pity, because Apple include so much of use to developers, even without the developer tools. ON hte other hand I can develop C# better on Windows without having to wait till Monodevelop becomes usable on MAC
For similar reasons I will not buy a Kindle. I am sure someone has developed software that will act like a kindle on a standard laptop. However if I can find a way to put my own PDFs on a kindle and prevent Amazon wiping it remotely I may reconsider.
I know the Kindle is off topic, but I think Amazon and Apple both exhibit a disturbing trend which needs to be halted. If enough people wrote to Apple saying they are moving to Windows they would have to listen.
Here is the answer to your problem: “In a nutshell, Apple wants its developers to create innovative applications that keep the iPhone one step ahead of its competitors, with one big caveat: Not at the expense of cellular carrier partners.” The October 2008 iPhone SDK Agreement, under the “Cellular Network” call-out, subsection 3.3.15 states: “May not have Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) functionality using the cellular network”. — Read full article here: http://el8.org/2009/04/05/iphone-voip-sdk-skype-over-3g/
I really feel for the developer here and I know I’m going to be lambasted as an Apple FanBoy but can we all take a breath?
It seriously sucks that Apple pulled this application but it is not like this is tic-tac-toe they pulled. GoogleVoice has the real potential of being a major game changer in the mobile phone industry and is so huge that they still have not fully launched the service. You still have to apply for an invitation.
Is it any wonder that companies like Apple and AT&T would want to take a look at how this service fits in before letting it go forward? Again, this doesn’t change how much it sucks, just makes it make some sense that they might want to evaluate things for a little while.
Things happen so fast on the net that it is hard to see what is really going on. Person after person has bitched about how horrible and controlling Apple is being with the iPhone. First because it only supported Web Apps (hello? Palm Pre). But they fixed that, later because certain features were missing and they fixed those. Then it was because Apps were being rejected but few and few of those seem to be happening (present company excluded) . So now people bitch about royalties, and speed to market, both of which the App store is very reasonable on.
Give this till the end of the month, and let the developer talk it through with Apple. If it is not resolved by then. I’ll bring my pitch fork too.
I wonder if there’s a class action lawsuit in this – not that I’m lawsuit-happy, but this sort of thing has happened enough, and Apple continues to be totally opaque about it.
Is there any sort of “common carrier” aspect to the App Store? I wouldn’t think there was, since they’re picking-and-choosing which apps can appear.
The fact that Apple refuses to make any comment whatsoever, other than “you have violated Rule X” is troubling, as a mobile app developer starting to look at iPhone.
Wow. I can only imagine what would happen to Microsoft if it decided not to run an app because it competed with a Microsoft product. Yet Apple gets away with anti-competitive garbage like this on a regular basis.
“We’re sorry, your browser duplicates functions of Internet Explorer and it’s causing confusion for our users, so we can’t allow you to install it.” The Justice Dept. and EU would go ballistic. But when Apples does it, I guess then it’s “innovative.”
The ongoing double-standard never ceases to amaze me. Please write your app for the Blackberry.
Change the title to:
Phone Nazi: There is no app for that!!!
There is a very simple solution to this problem, developers need to create more apps and start selling them using Cydia Store and take down Goliath (AKA: Apple) once and for all, competition is the key to success and apple is not allowing anyone to compete against them. So far the Cydia Store has better and more useful apps/ system improvements than any other app in the apple app store ( sorry store developers but it’s true). I belive it’s Time to think outside the Apple!
Some of us obviously never learn… Some of us are too young to remember…
When the Apple II came out years (decades) ago it was GREAT!!! The birth of the personal computer, WOW HOW COOL…
Heck I still have one and when I’m feeling nostalgic I plug it in and it still works. LOL It was a open development environment right down to the hardware level. Why if you were so inclined you could even make your own cards, write your own assembly code (6502 yikes) the machine was pretty much an open book…
Then came the Apple III and then the Mac. The Mac’s GUI blew everyone away (except the developers from Xerox who wrote it). Then Apple flexed their sphincter and locked down all development and low level information. And they paid for it dearly when IBM followed by MS came along with their PC product (got one of those too, that still rips along at 4.7 Mhz lol) and was WAY friendlier to the developer community. That openness was one of the things that allowed them to grab the +90% market that MS and the PC now occupy. Of course MS has also severely tightened up it’s sphincter as well with it’s “Microsoft Approved” scheme.
Seems to me they’re (Apple) doing it again, and all I can say is I hope they get their asses handed to them on the plate of a free market. Though I do feel sorry for the development companies and users who get ground up in the process…
Given time I believe Apple will lose market share again. Sure they’ve come out with the Iphone and it’s a front runner right now, but like the Mac, and soon the Ipod (another Pain in the Ass) product, other companies will produce similar products with similar form and function. Same mistakes warrant similar results, and it’s obvious Apple will NEVER learn…
Oh and btw, Open Source RULES!!!
Android, Android, Android. Open Source – true open source is the future, Apple and Microsoft will be forced to change or fade away. I can do almost anything on my G1, and then I rooted the system and started tweaking everything and now I really can do anything. I have apps that function contradictorily to Google and T-mobile’s original intent (for example I can tether my laptop to my phone and use edge or 3g for WiFi)
Anyways, I am surprised there is so little discussion about Google/Android on this forum.
The era of Microsoft or Apple is ending… I’m calling it, Google = worlds #1 developer of software/internet/mobile phone os/pc operating systems/and open source applications for all.