Yahoo vents frustration over App Store process
Updated at 4:30 p.m. PDT following Yahoo's removal of the blog post and subsequent clarification of the situation. See below for details.
Yahoo appears to be a little miffed that Apple's App Store reviewers are still sitting on an update to the Yahoo Messenger for iPhone application.
Yahoo's ready for the new Yahoo Messenger for iPhone update to be released.
(Credit: Yahoo)In a post titled "And so we wait...on Apple," Yahoo's Sarah Bacon calls out Apple for "the somewhat unpredictable process for getting apps approved and released" on the App Store. Yahoo said it submitted an update for the Yahoo Messenger app (iTunes link) two weeks ago, but has nothing to show for it.
Now, as App Store approval delays or rejections go, two weeks is nothing. Yahoo could just ask Sling Media how it felt about the month-long delay in the approval process for SlingPlayer Mobile, or rival Google about the rejection of Google Voice from the App Store. But Yahoo's decision to publicly call out Apple is interesting, given the possible thawing of relations between iPhone developers and Apple following Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller's outreach to bloggers and developers.
"Anyone want to bet that Facebook's app, which was submitted after ours, gets approved first?" Bacon asked. No action, Yahoo, especially now.
UPDATED 4:30 p.m. PDT - Yahoo has since removed the post in question, but according to Lucas Mast of Yahoo Mobile public relations, plans to update it later today. Apparently Bacon, who works for the Yahoo Messenger group, did not have all the facts concerning Yahoo's submission of the Messenger update to Apple, which was handled by the mobile team.
Yahoo did in fact submit the update to Apple two weeks ago, but pulled that update a week ago "to make some additional corrections/updates," Mast said. "This process resets the approval process time, which we were aware of."
Yahoo expects Apple to approve the update shortly, but it has only been less than a week since the clock was restarted on the update. "We have been pleased with the approval process and Apple's responsiveness and look forward to continued submissions as we mobilize Yahoo," Mast said.
Whoops.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
There are 10's thousands of apps in the store and dozens, if not hundreds of apps or updates released every day.
Imagine how much longer it would take if these had to be burnt onto CD/floppies like in the would days and then shipped to a store.
So it may take them a few weeks or even a month. Record companies used to (and may still have to) submit CD's to manufacturing about 2-3 months before Xmas to guarantee they could get stock in the shops by December, people rarely complained that the music was recorded but they had to wait for it to be made before they could get a copy.
I think the problem is too much information on the consumer side, if you did not know about it until it hit the shelves you would not care. And for the developers, well it's simple EXPECT UP TO A MONTH to get processed which is not that long really.
So either don't write apps for the iPhone or shut up. They told you how you would be treated, and you agreed.
Keep it up Apple, your pathetic market share is all you have to lose
"pathetic marketshare"? Are you serious? Do you work for MS? Did you know that Apple has over 30 billion in cash? You sir, are ignorant.
Why yes, Apple does indeed have $30 billiion in cash. Now ask yourself, why?
A developer who produces an app has to pay Apple for the priveledge to play in their sandbox. The app is created, and submitted. It may or may not be accepted- you just have to wait and see, but for how long? There's no point in asking Apple- they don't make it a practice to communicate with developers. So you wait... wait... wait... oh there it is! Finally, your app is out. It's out for a year, but guess what, your developer license is up for renewal so you have to pay Apple again to keep that app in the store. If you don't, the app is pulled. Heck, the app can be pulled at any time for any reason and they don't have to tell you why.
So let's go down the road of having your app pulled. You may have charged only 99 cents for it, and you find your app has been SO popular as to have 10,000 downloads. Fantastic! Check out all the money you made! Apple keeps 30%, of course, but that's fine. Cost of doing business. The app earned $9,900.00. You got to keep $6,600.00. Good deal! But Apple pulls your app. People want refunds, which according to the agreement you signed up with, you exclusively owe to the end users. You're on the hook not for $6600, but for the TOTAL amount, ie, $9900.
That's $3,300.00 more than you started with that you now owe. And Apple still hasn't told you why your app was removed. You just owe more money than you would have had you never produced an application in the first place. This could potentially bankrupt you for being.. .well, successful.
Imagine now the fun when Apple releases a new OS update that features, you guessed it, their version of your app. Congratulations, you did all the dev work for Apple and now they get to benefit from your hard work. Heck, you even PAID them to do it and are still paying now.
Now all this is in hyperbole, but it is what the dev circles are muttering about greatly right now. People are indeed getting screwed by this sort of situation, but thankfully rarely. If an app is kept free, then it's not a problem. If you charge, then you run the chance of owing more than you started from.
I hope that people clamoring for Government Healthcare don't get upset about 2 weeks waiting for things. ;)
In the real world, though, Yahoo Messenger, Google Voice, Sling Player... what do they have in common? They both have the potential to bypass paid services from ATT or overload ATTs struggling 3G network. This is why the review takes a long time, because everyone needs to make sure their revenue stream is protected.
Ultimately, when the wireless broadband system is complete, there won't be "phones" anymore or "text plans" as it will simply be a device hooked up to a data stream, with phone and messaging handled via IP schemes.
The confusion comes from other apps that are submitted later that are then approved before the first one is done. It's essentially the same idea as you standing in line at the checkout for your groceries and having the checkstand person wave you aside while they sneak in someone from outside the line entirely, ignoring your pleas and focusing on this new person.
Apple could avoid this problem by opening up, but that has never been their business practice. Most of the time it works, but there's been enough backlash on this Apps Store debacle as to cast some serious doubt on this practice and whether it's worth dealing with or not.
I bet they do not use a ticket system to show how many applications they worked on in a day that passed the approval process. I highly doubt there is quality check on it.
Perhaps it must first go though the quality police then
it goes through the old church ladies process and other various religious background checks.
Than I am sure the process involves people who check how many typos are in the product.
I am sure the whole approval process is a bit like the skit Sienfeld show where they stand in line as they listen to the Soup Nazi.
Chris
http://worstiphoneapps.blogspot.com
Yahoo is a has-been anyway. Microsoft is buying them because they already drove Hotmail into the ground, and MSN Search never took off nor did MSN Spaces.
Am I looking in the right spot, or did the author of the blog post perhaps have a change of heart?
I`m with Gina Trapani on this one. http://ginatrapani.org/
James
www.shootmyiphone.com
- by daviddaba August 19, 2009 3:33 PM PDT
- ha! Sorry I feel no pitty for Yahoo. Yahoo has sat on tons of applications of mine and even NEVER responded.... specifically to their Yahoo Publisher network which is a joke.... How does it feel Yahoo?
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