» Kafkaesque conversation with Apple's App Store
Riverturn’s VoiceCentral app had been available for several months on Apple’s iPhone App Store, but this week Apple removed it and all other apps that connect to Google Voice. Here’s the conversation Riverturn had with a representative from the App Store:
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.”
July 29, 2009, 10:19am Comments
