First, it was NetShare, and then it was Podcaster. Now it’s MailWrangler by Angelo DiNardi (via Daring Fireball). The application, like MailPlane for Mac OS X, allows you to log into several Gmail accounts simultaneously and use Google’s iPhone optimised web interface to browse through your email. It’s basically a version of MobileSafari that can only open Gmail accounts. And, clearly, it’s of great use to anyone who has several Gmail accounts and needs the starring and conversation features of the web version. Furthermore, it sounds like the best way to let someone else check their Gmail account on your iPhone without messing with any of your own settings.

Angelo submitted his application for App Store approval, only to be met with a rude rejection letter six months after the event:

Your application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion.

Huh? Really? The three applications (Mail, MailWrangler, and Safari) have three separate icons with three different names. Each application has a clearly different purpose—Mail is a POP3/IMAP client for accessing your email from any service provider, MailWrangler exists solely to open Gmail accounts, and Safari is an Internet browser that can be used to visit any website at all. And this is coming from the company that has sanctioned more than ten flashlight apps (iTunes link) and an innumerable quantity of to-do applications (iTunes link) for the iPhone.

It’s like saying that you cannot write a Baseball game for the device because an application already exists for tracking real world Baseball matches, and the coexistence of both on the same iPhone might confuse users. How stupid does Apple think its customers are anyway? I’m pretty sure that if someone is wise enough to be able to launch the App Store and download an application, they’re capable of processing the difference in functionalities of two applications. Read on for more…

Clearly, that’s not the reason. So, what is? I’m guessing that Apple wants people to use Mail to access their email and nothing else at all. But I’m not sure what Apple stands to gain from restricting people from using any other email client of their choosing. It’s not like they’re making any money off Mail users or benefitting in any other conceivable way.

There are absolutely no clear cut guidelines for what will be accepted and what won’t on the App Store. Apple is being anticompetitive and almost monopolistic, randomly admitting apps that it deems worth of gaining entry to the store and rejecting some unsuspecting developers with great applications for ridiculous reasons. They’ve already driven out at least one great developer, Fraser Speirs, from the store due to these messy and unclear policies and more will soon follow.

I know I’m repeating what many people have already said but at this point, it does seem like the only way to gain entry into the App Store is to either write a game or wrap a different skin on an already existing application and submit it at a different price. A casual stroll through the virtual aisles of the App Store is enough to bring this fact to light—it’s overflowing with junk! Finding a great application is truly like searching for a needle in a haystack and I, for one, am not too inclined to waste my time doing so.

When Steve Jobs had first described the philosophy behind the App Store, I’d had reasonable confidence in the idea. I’d expected them to put their totalitarian control over what gets hawked in the store to good uses—uses such as keeping out the extremely poorly designed applications, just plain useless ones (like I Am Rich, for instance), and the malicious ones. It now seems that the only way to ensure that your app gets listed is to write one that doesn’t do much at all.

To add insult to injury, Apple has started adding a reminder at the bottom of their App Store rejection letters that the contents of that letter are covered by the NDA and shouldn’t be revealed to anyone. Here’s the exact wording as it appears in the letters, capitals and all (via MacRumors):

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE

Neat. So not only are developers being subjected to harsh treatment with regard to their submissions, they’re now effectively being asked to just shut up about it, bury their (potentially very useful) application somewhere, and forget about the whole ordeal. Oh, and if they want, they can send in another application and try their luck. Honestly, If I was an iPhone developer (and I’m thankful right now that I’m not), I’d have sent a simple reply to Apple, “Screw you!”

Cut the crap, Apple. Publicity-wise, this hasn’t been the best year for you anyway; at least try to make the best of what’s left. The only reason the Mac caught on was the push to get more and more developers onboard and write software for it with complete freedom. Once the developers start fleeing from the iPhone platform, rest assured that those paying customers won’t last long either. What’s the point of owning one of the most advanced gadgets in the world when all it’s capable of doing is glowing in the dark and making farting sounds—oh, wait, it can’t do that either!

In App Store, Opinion on 24 Sep, 2008| |