Tech giant Apple has come under fire from iPhone users, after a number of applications have been rejected from sale on the App Store, and approval times for apps continue to increase.
The protests come as Apple attempts to clean up the App Store’s image and quality control procedures, with the company terminating the development license of a developer making apps that are “spamming” the store.
The controversy began several days ago, when Apple rejected a “Google Voice” app that allows users to take advantage of a Google telephone service that replaces all their phone devices with one number. Google Voice enabled apps were also removed from the store, frustrating users who had believed them to be freely available.
iPhone users criticised the move, but Apple blamed carrier AT&T for the problem, saying it had to remove the app due to similarities with the carrier’s services. The Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating the matter.
But the controversy has continued, with Apple recently rejecting a dictionary application due to a number of swear words contained in the app. Developer John Gruber from Daring Fireball said his app was rejected due to its controversial content.
But Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller wrote back to Guber in a private email, which was then posted on the internet, defending the company’s actions.
“The issue that the App Store reviewers did find with the Ninjawords application is that it provided access to other more vulgar terms than those found in traditional and common dictionaries, words that many reasonable people might find upsetting or objectionable.”
The move comes as Apple attempts to clean up the App Store’s image, which has been flooded with tens of thousands of applications. It has sent developers a request to tag their apps with keywords enabling more relevant search results, after criticisms the store is too flooded to find anything useful.
The company has even cancelled the license of a developer which was “spamming” the store with low-quality apps designed purely to make money.
Khalid Shaikh of Perfect Acumen found himself banned from app development when Apple sent him a letter terminating his contract. The company has produced a massive 900 apps, with many of them simple content aggregators from other websites, with no special features at all.
Shaikh has told tech blog TechCrunch that his apps are not meant to be of high quality, but he simply wants to earn as much money as he can. But his license rejection comes as Apple has stamped down on its quality control procedures, with many developers complaining of wait times of up to six weeks for having an application approved.
Australian developer Marc Edwards, head of development house Bjango, says the store has grown so quickly that Apple is content in shaping it into the market it wants – no matter how long it takes.
“I think, due to the store’s success, they’re probably having difficulties keeping up with the demand of reviewing apps and are probably very keen on not letting the first app go through that has malware or something. I think they’re happy with negative publicity regarding long procedures to keep the quality high and safe. These are really teething problems.”
Keith Ahern, chief executive of development studio MoGeneration, rejects claims that Apple is behaving irresponsibly, and says it has a responsibility to maintain high quality products on its store, even if that means longer approval procedures.
“I have a standard response for those criticisms – the App Store is not the internet. I do think the App Store can be improved, but people are so open to a wide open internet, they aren’t used to the refinement of the App Store. This isn’t like publishing a web page, it’s like publishing a book, it takes a long time and the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.”
“Apple are becoming a little bit stricter on apps, they’re kind of cleaning it up, and although people aren’t happy about this I think it’s a good move. As the number of apps increases, there needs to be better search mechanisms and quality controls.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
