Sep 16

App Store Problems

If you're a user of the App Store, everything should be just fine, except the fact that, if you see some application today and you're planning to buy it next week, it may disappear until then. Why? I don't have an accurate statistic, but it seems a lot of programs have been pushed out of the App Store so far, and - in some cases - Apple didn't give any explanation, at least in the first days after the action. While this is their site, and they can do what they want, after all, there's one question rising - what's the problem with App Store, after all?

Until we get to the App Store problems, just a hint - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has just become available, priced at $9.99. Early reviews show this to be a great game, so if you're into Star Wars... you know what to do!

The recent news are looking pretty bad for Apple, since it seems they even refused an entry to an app called Podcaster on the App Store, and their reason was pretty

"Microsoftish," if you ask me(if you don't know why Windows Commander is now called Total Commander - it's because Microsoft's lawyers), considering they said that Podcaster "duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes."

Next in line, we have Nullriver and their NetShare program, which has also been banned from Apple's App Store. Their website says the following: "Looks like Apple has decided they will not be allowing any tethering applications in the AppStore. As such, NetShare will not be available in the iTunes AppStore. We are seeing a lot of similar reports from various developers who's applications were abruptly removed and banned from the AppStore without any violations of the terms of service. This is all unfortunate news for the iPhone platform end-users."

This doesn't look well at all, and it has gone so far that some developers announced a full stop of their work on iPhone and iPod applications until things become clear. After all, what could be worse to work on something, try to comply all the written rules to enter the App Store, and then have your program removed because someone at Apple thinks something is wrong, although there's no rule saying that.

While reading user comments on various sites, I found one that remained stuck to my mind, but unfortunately I can't remember the user name or the site where I saw it. He was saying something like this "The only company to hold Apple back is Apple and sometimes they do a pretty good job." I don't know about you, but I think this proves to be true...