The Struggles of Getting Into the App Store

itwbennett writes "You've heard the horror stories about the App Store approval process driving developers away, but what really makes it so bad isn't the 6-8 day waiting period or even rejection. What make it so bad is the lack of access to a human problem-solver at who can loosen the stranglehold of Apple's protocol machine, says Matthew Mombrea, who recounts in excruciating detail his company's experience publishing iOS apps, and, worse, updates to iOS apps."

Yes, it sucks

[solidtransient]

I can tell you from going through numerous reviews that it's a terribly inconsistent process and has lead to a lot of frustration. I've been denied before for extremely petty reasons, only to get through on the 3rd or 4th try. Good luck trying to get an idea of how long it will take also. It has taken 45 days or longer from initial submission to being 'ready for sale'. I understand they want to keep control of their market, but their denials really interfere with my motivation to continue developing on their platform. However, on Android I've made far far less revenue on the same apps, only to see my app get 'returned' daily and probably pirated. It's worth the pain still at this point to hit iOS first and Android afterwards, especially to make 3X to 4X revenue on iOS. It's why I hope Microsoft's approvals for Win 8 and RT can be somewhere in the middle.

Re:Yes, it sucks

[jtownatpunk.net]

Serious question: How does Win8's fragmentation figure in your decision to potentially develop for their mobile platforms?

From what I can tell, to have full support across all of their portable devices, you'll need to have 3 versions of each app. One for the Windows Phone 8, one for Windows RT 8, and one for x86/x64 Windows 8. I've seen reports that RT tablets won't be able to run phone apps and phones won't be able to run RT apps so that means two ARM builds. And there are also a lot of x86 tablets in the pipeline that will be running the full x86 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 8 so you'll need to cover them, too.

Seems like that would be a significant barrier to entry unless Microsoft has provided some pretty strong tools to port between platforms.

Web App?

[R3d M3rcury]

The interesting thing mentioned in the article is that they have both a web app and an iPad app.

How impossible would it be to just have a web app? Then you can update to your hearts delight and don't have to deal with Apple. Users can easily put it on their iPads. There are even some "tricks" you can use to work better on the iPad, I believe (common gestures, etc.).

Re:Why?

[mjwx]

That's simple: the walled garden is where the marketing is.

FTFY,

Most developers dont make back the $99/y fee to list their application let alone the cost of buying a Mac.

The only application developers making money are the developers making applications for those foolish enough to pay them, there is no money in selling direct to consumers.

The only mobile development business model that works is consulting, by selling their services as developers not by selling on the app store so in this regard profitability is platform independent (in fact Android is better as it has a longer development time, meaning more hours charged to the client).

Re:Android for the first $1250

[Fallingcow]

Really wish people would stop whining about $100 development certificate. It's a negligible cost in the face of the actual App development cost.

I'd bet the nicer docs and generally better API save way more than $100 in developer time anyway.