Like any other week, there is always some App Store madness to report on. The first bit came when Air-O-Matic’s Pull My Finger [iTunes link], the fart application finally made its way into the App Store. Yes, the same one that got rejected a couple of months ago. So why now Apple? According to what an Apple rep told the developer, Apple is introducing a whole new genre of what can only be called ‘Stupid & Useless’ apps into the App Store.
“The very kind Apple Team Member told me that they didn’t want to reject it originally, but that they were sorting out how this ‘genre’ of apps were going to be handled,” he added. “She told me they’d be lifting the restriction on them, and more apps will follow that may have been previously not allowed.”
While I’m glad that the whole ordeal of everyone suddenly wanting – no, needing – a farting application, but I seriously wonder what the implications of this new development are. Soon there will be hundreds of these apps with seemingly no use, but Apple will have no control over whether or not they are allowed. They will inadvertently make their way into the top 10 lists, and the good apps that have utility will be lost in the thousands. We hope Apple uses some discretion in approving these apps.
The second bit of news, is the surprising rejection of a contacts app “Peeps” that uses Cover Flow to display contacts. First of all, why are rejections always made a big thing out of? Actually, it appears that an apps ticket to fame is it getting rejected. I can only imaging a dev’s disappointment when an app goes through without a hitch. Now I believe John Gruber was the first one to report on this, and when he does, the entire Apple community goes berserk.
Apple rejected the app because of the use of a non-public API, namely Cover Flow. According to Gruber,
The problem? According to developer Landon Fuller, they didn’t use any private APIs — they created their own Cover Flow implementation using the public APIs.
This is a situation where you cannot exactly point fingers. There’s the apparent use of the word Cover Flow throughout the the description of the application. “Rotate your phone to view only that group’s photos in Cover Flow!” says part of the description. How is an Apple employee supposed to know that it’s their own implementation! I don’t suppose an Apple employee goes through bits of code seeing whether someone has in fact made their own version of Cover Flow.
The developer has since resubmitted the application and I hope the description is clear this time. Cover Flow technology is under the Apache license, and so I don’t think Apple should have a problem with approving it to to the store. Personally, I’m more worried about being able to find my contacts using Cover Flow…
[Update: We've been told that the devs infact made it a clear mention to Apple that this was their own API while submitting it in. Moreover, there are apps that do in fact use the Cover Flow API that have been accepted into the App Store. The whole situation is classic App Store nonsense, and Apple is definitely the bad guy here - Milind]
[Pull My Finger approved - Ars Technica]
[iPhone peeps rejected - Landon Fuller]
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“Stupid and Useless”? I think we were already there, with apps like Flying Fists, Respect My Authoriti!, iThrow, and (my all-time least favorite, I think) Jerk in a Box. I’m not sure when each of those was introduced, given the rather idiotic retroactive “release date” system now in effect, but I know at least the last three of them have been around for a while, and I don’t see that they have any socially redeeming qualities. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a fan a “useless” apps that are pretty and fun to watch especially if they’re well crafted (Bubbles and Koi Pond in particular), but the above are just… dumb, mean, and/or potentially dangerous in one way or another.
The current new “genre” seems to me to be “Even More Juvenile Than Ever” but not always for little boys and girls. One has a 12+ rating (for frequent/intense profanity or crude humor). Swell. For BIG extra juveniles.
I say ONE of them because as I write there are FOUR fart apps (and two burp apps — what’s next — puke? diarrhea? pooh-pooh/pee-pee jokes?): Pull My Finger has moved to #36 in paid apps with an overall 4-star rating (53 reviews), and is #4 in paid entertainments apps. Fart Machine is #77 in paid entertainment apps (hasn’t hit the main ranking yet) but only 2 stars ( 6 reviews); the other 2 aren’t in the rankings yet but have high ratings: iFart Mobile 4.5 stars (12 reviews) and iPoot 4.5 stars (3 reviews). So, so far, people seem to like them quite well. Which isn’t a wonderful portent for the future of the genre, if one would like to see it fall over a cliff.
Do I seem a little OCD about this? You bet. I’m hoping Apple will make a new category (wondering what they’ll call it — “limited usefulness” is NOT accurate, nor is “juvenile”), shovel a lot of other stuff from Entertainment into it as well, and I can ignore the whole mess. (Notice that they made a “Medical” category recently? I do poke in that; as I work in a related field. But it got a lot of the pricey professional apps out of Health & Fitness.) I also wish they’d get some other baggage cleared out into some other categories — multiple “dialing” apps, for one example. And made subcategories in other categories than games. And made it FAR easier to get back to earlier pages in each category. And… I’ll stop now.
Finding good apps in the store is very difficult. Apple needs a system by which they start weeding out unwanted and unpopular apps, to keep the chatter to a minimum. They could put them into a new category “Trash bin” if they wanted. Subcategories would be great. I would have also liked some kind of ajax styled browsing in the store. The responsiveness is not great even on a fast connection. iTunes.com perhaps?
In other news, here’s a report on Ai about some rearrangements in the store. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/12/apple_tweaks_app_store_layout_amid_developer_unrest.html