The wishy-washy method in which Apple approves, rejects, publishes, and un-publishes applications for the App Store is nothing new: most developers and consumers know there's something fishy with the entire process. The controversy, in fact, has caught the attention of the FCC in regards to rejections of Google Voice and similar applications. Even last week developer Daring Fireball lashed out at Apple for rejecting a dictionary application.
According to the Unofficial Apple Weblog, the latest developer to complain is Steven Frank, a co-founder of Mac developer Panic. Steamed over the Google Voice rejections, Frank declared his intentions to boycott the iPhone altogether until Apple corrects the problem with the App Store approval process (even though the company is currently not an iPhone developer). Frank vented his frustrations by posting his feelings here.
"My position is not that every app should be approved -- it's that rejected apps should be rejected for reasons that at the very least make consistent, logical sense, without garbage form-letter rejection notices that explain nothing, and with at least some sort of guidance available to the developer about how to fix the problem instead of meeting them with a brick wall," Frank said on his blog.
However, over the weekend Frank received an email response from Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller. Frank said that he did not have Schiller's permission to republish the letter, but summarizes in this blog that Apple is "listening to your feedback." Schiller said that the company was absorbing all the viable suggested solutions provided by developers as the company continues to "evolve" the App Store.
