All Articles Tagged state of the apps

Just prior to iPhone 3.0 there were rumors that Apple would introduce a Premium App Store which would let high quality apps in the $10 or $20+ range enjoy some breathing room away from the “race to the bottom” pressure of the current cheapy novelty app crowd. Why is this still a good idea? Well, AppCubby has run the numbers and it looks like $5 (down from $10) is the new ceiling for App Store apps:

With the average price in the App Store now at $1.39 for games and $2.58 for all apps, the App Store is killing the value perception of mobile software shoppers. Some would argue that this is just market economics at work, but I think there is a very strong case to be made for Apple being directly responsible for this trend. Whether they did so deliberately or inadvertently is still up for debate, but either way, the future of iPhone platform and of the entire mobile software industry hinges on the direction Apple takes with App Store 2.0. The downward spiral in app prices caused by the Top 100 list and Apple’s relatively hands off approach during the first year of the App Store has created completely unrealistic pricing expectations that may haunt the entire mobile software industry for years to come.

The logic is this: if developers can’t earn a fair living making great iPhone apps, they aren’t going to make great iPhone apps. (Think about it, would you work day and night if you couldn’t feed your family at the end of the week?)

Gizmodo adds in the gaming angle:

There’s no easy solution to this, which means that iPhone users shouldn’t expect much more complicated games than what’s already on there now. All the talk of the iPhone competing with the DS or the PSP in terms of quality may be moot if there’s nobody there to spend the effort developing that level of games.

We here at TiPb have long held that we don’t mind paying higher prices for higher quality apps. Why? Because we want them, we love them, and are happy to support them so we get more and better for years to come. The iPhone itself isn’t cheap and the idea that we can’t afford $10 (or more) for an amazing new game or innovative new app is just ludicrous.

Apple mentioned on their Q3 2009 conference call yesterday that they had room to improve on the App Store. A Premium App Store (or App Store Plus, or whatever name it goes by), perhaps combined with Craig Hockenberry’s idea of a premium developer membership, could be a great place to start.

Macro.org, from the developer behind Tumblr and Instapaper, has a post up highlighting the latest App Store controversy — that all web-embedded apps must be rated 17+ and now don’t get Promo Codes — and comes to this conclusion:

Apple thinks reviews can take 8-30 days and web-capable apps need nudity warnings and the management interface can be buggy as s**t and they don’t need us to be able to reach them and nobody really needs to take any of this very seriously. Because it’s working for them. They’re making a killing taking their 30% commission on the 1.5 billion copies of $0.99 top-25 games that they’ve sold. Who cares if the App Store discourages good developers from putting serious effort into it? Apple doesn’t need to care. And, clearly, they don’t.

The whole post is definitely worth reading, and brings to mind the classic riff — “any incompetence sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from malice”.

Here’s the the thing, though: Apple is not only serving developers. They’re being served with lawsuits. And their hyper-vigilant legal departments are no doubt saying — perhaps rightly — that if someone uses a Twitter client that embeds a WebView and happens to see the f-word or a nipple, they’ll sue Apple.

Ridiculous, sure. A poor solution, of course. But it’s the kind of rolling triage Apple seems to be doing as the App Store grows beyond even their expectations.

Don’t get us wrong, all the problems marco.org mentions are real, frustrating, and need to be fixed yesterday. For Apple to force 17+ Ratings on these apps, and remove Promo Code functionality, is intolerable — and we wonder why Mobile Safari, Mobile Mail, iPod, etc. aren’t forced to pop up the same warning under that logic.

It’s entirely Apple’s fault, setting themselves up as editors to the App Store, and then not implementing the policies or staff necessary to keep up with the content requiring editorial approval.

But we don’t think Apple doesn’t care. They surely do, and will no doubt continue to make slow, steady improvements and address developer and user concerns, while at the same time making other clumsy and what look like bone-headed decisions and mistakes. Lots of them.

Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry has written a long, considered essay on Furbo.org framing the changes Apple has already made to the iTunes App Store, what problems it still presents to developers, users, and Apple itself, and proposes some interesting solutions.

From the differences between selling music and apps, to the long delays and uncertainty surrounding the approval process, lack of viable upgrade options, ill-defined rules, inability to provide demos, inability to respond to iTunes reviews, and the lack of discoverability for apps, Hockenberry leaves few stones unturned — nor does he throw those stones, turned or otherwise, in Apple’s direction.

He comes off as a veteran developer more than a little frustrated not just at what is, but at not yet reaching the potential of what could be. One solution he proposes might be controversial — and we’ve heard it from him before — but is still more than promising:

Charge [developers] $999 for premium service. For professional developers, this cost is not prohibitive and would allow Apple to provide additional services…

He does, rightly, chastise Apple for not communicating effectively with developers — for failing to hold up their end of the platform partnership. However, by pointing out how far the App Store has come in just one year, it leaves us with hope that given Apple’s and developers’ shared passion for the iPhone, it can go further still in year two.

Right Apple?

TiPb will be back tomorrow with our Picks of the Year, and Editors’ Choice in honor of Apple’s iTunes App Store one year birthday — and yes, we’re really calling it our Appy Anniversary coverage.

1 billion+ downloads and 56,000+ apps are the figures, but just how many of those downloaded apps have made it onto your iPhone or iPod touch?

Barely an extra screen worth, more than the expanded 180 even iPhone 3.0 allows, or $143K and change for the whole shebang? How many does iTunes show, and how many are actually on your device?

Last week the first iPhone (and iPod touch) app to feature nudity was live in the iTunes App Store. Technically, however, it was simply a change in the server behind the app — the developer added nude images.

Subsequently, however, the app became unavailable. The developer first reported that their own servers couldn’t keep up with demand for the newly nudified images, but it turns out Apple laid the hammer down on the “soft-core porn” app:

Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store.

Given that Apple has included new parental controls and App Store restrictions in iPhone 3.0, including a declaration for nude content, and given the eternal argument that nudity is available for age-appropriate viewers via iTunes movies, is there some contradiction still at work? Or is Apple drawing the line artificially close for now while it watches and gauges reaction?

[via CNN]

Way back in the elder days of iPhone 3.0 Beta 5, there was some discussion on Twitter about how apps would have an incorrect icon, or would be missing an icon altogether. Since the iPhone 3.0 betas were private and not public, TiPb didn’t post about it as that’s just not how we play cricket. Private betas will have bugs, get those bugs reported, and hopefully have those bugs fixed by the time the software goes into general availability.

However, TUAW highlights that this particular bug is still biting iPhone 3.0, even in the release version. Now, as then, if you have an app that’s missing an icon or has the incorrect icon, you can try to reboot your iPhone, delete the app and download or sync it back on, or wait for Apple to fix it in a 3.0.x update.

Meanwhile, you can let us know the funniest app mishaps iPhone 3.0 is giving you in the comments below.

(Mine is the little AIM dude swiping my 1Passwords Pro!)

UPDATED: Dominik Balogh from PoweryBase, developers of the iPhone 3.0 Push Notification-powered NotifyMe reminder app wrote in to let us know:

We have just received (now, sunday morning in Cupertino) an apology from Apple App Store Staff.

It’s looking more likely that Apple is working behind the scenes to make sure their servers can handle the Push Notification load before they let 40 million potential users light up their network. Once they’re confident, however, will the push apps roll?

ORIGINA: Sure, some have trickled out of the App Store during the last week, but given the high profile iPhone 3.0 release, and given that we know some high profile push-enabled apps were submitted to the iPhone weeks ago, TiPb has to wonder — where are all the Push Notification enabled apps?

Due to server load and battery life, is Apple putting them through even more stringent and lengthy reviews? Is there some concern about Apple’s Push Notification server load capacity so they’re releasing them a few at a time so as not to suddenly have a MobileMe-style post-launch crash? Or are they just more seemingly random victims of the still-opaque, ever mysterious iPhone App Store review process?

Hopefully it’s reasons #1 and #2. We can handle minor delays now to ensure solid apps on a solid push platform going forward.

But please Apple, keep developers in the loop and — hey! — throw us a bone. Or push us a notification. Something.

Meanwhile, which Push Notification app are you waiting for the most?

Tim Daley let us know via Twitter that his app, What Would Chuck Do?, was rejected by Apple’s iTunes App Store for the most terrifying reason imaginable. Because they said so:

Thank you for submitting WWCD – What Would Chuck Do to the App Store. We’ve reviewed the Application and, consistent with the criteria considered in our approval process, we have chosen not to publish this application. As you know, Apple reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject an application for any reason.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program

While as a publisher, this is absolutely within Apple’s rights, as a platform that needs to nurture and maintain the support of both its developer and user base, it’s suicidal. And what’s worse, it’s stupid. In this day and age, especially for a company as connected as Apple, poor communication causing bad PR is as astounding as it is inexcusable.

Steve Jobs and Eddy Cue need to pull out whatever flame-thrower they marched the halls of MobileMe with last year and turn them full-throttle on whatever passes for the current App Store rejection policy. If any reviewer even thinks of typing “because we said so” they should immediately be transfered to whatever passes at Apple for Siberia.

It’s getting tiring to keep typing this, but developers deserve clear, consistent guidelines, users deserve top notch reviewers to make sure we get the best technical quality in apps, and Apple deserves a happy developers and PR experience that matches the phenomenal success of the App Store.

It’s such an easy thing to fix, which makes it all the more stupefying Apple not only hasn’t fixed it, but hasn’t even reached out to developers to show they understand the frustration level and are working to fix it.

For more examples, see TUAW’s recent reports from Christina Warren on MiniPops and Erica Sadu on iLaugh Lite.

Stupefying.

Short story: GP Apps made iVidCam, a video recording app. Apple rejected it for using undocumented APIs. The developers appealed on the grounds that other camera-related apps also use undocumented APIs and demanded Apple allow it in, and let them sell it for 2 months before Apple released their own video recording functionality, as anticipated for WWDC 2009. Apple thanked them for pointing out other API violators, said they would investigate, and let the rejection stand.

Long story, including personal response from Apple VP of marketing, Phil Schiller: See GPApps.com.

It’s hard not to sympathize with GP Apps given the amount of hard work and obvious passion they’ve put into iVidCam. They’ve made 680(!) other apps already and had them approved in the App Store.

It’s hard to sympathize with Apple, whose App Store approval policies remain opaque and seemingly capricious to the point we’re amazed developers have any hair left.

But here’s the thing: the app is in clear violation of App Store policy. If Apple keeps the other violating apps in the store, GP Apps could clearly argue fairness, but if Apple investigates and removes the other apps, that’s a done deal. Basing significant development resources on the shaky foundation of others getting away with something is harder to sympathize with. It’s more of a gamble than an investment.

In other words, if several people jaywalk in front of us, and we get caught, we’re still getting the ticket. And demanding that the cop not give us the ticket, and give us two months of unmolested jaywalking privileges on top of it… Well, we admire the hutzpah, but when the cop’s name is Apple, we don’t see it getting us too far.

Still, we wish GP Apps good luck. If those APIs are made public (as happened with the undocumented API’s Google was using), and Apple restricts their built-in video functionality to third generation hardware, we expect it will iVidCam may still appeal to a lot of iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G owners.

What do you think?

Daring Fireball has posted a bitingly satirical look at Apple’s iPhone App Store review process which, like the best of comedy, is firmly rooted in both tragedy and truth. That Apple hasn’t posted clear guidelines for developers is frustrating enough. That they apparently haven’t imposed them on their own internal staff raises the flabbergast bar to dizzying new heights.

With 35,000+ apps and a billion downloads Apple is well on their way towards building that next great platform. Until they fix the app approval process, however, that building is a house of cards.

Enough of the choir preaching. Here’s Gruber bringing the painful funny:

MONDAY MAY 18: The dude who wrote that game with the iPhone icon seems very upset. Says that the iPhone image is used to explain that the user must tilt the device in order to play the game, and so how can he show this visually without using an image of an iPhone. And he has a list of other apps already in the Store which use similar graphics. I reply with the exact same message as last week, word for word. Spend the rest of the day playing Flight Control.

Read the entire Excerpts From the Diary of an App Store Reviewer via Daring Fireball…