Its not that all the apps on the iPhone get through Apple’s rigorous process of App selections. Apple is reported to be very stubborn in their process and reject apps on reasons that may seem “silly”.
We will look at 5 dumbest apps rejections by Apple (initially) for the iPhone in this two part series.
1. Eucalyptus
Eucalytus is an app for reading books from Project Gutenberg. When the app was submitted to the App store Apple discoverd that one of the books the App could access is the Kamasutra. After some negotiation with Apple, the app was eventually approved but has to have a 17+ rating for download. You can look at it here App Store link and buy it for $5.99
2. Convertbot
Coverbot is an app for doing unit-conversions and was questioned by Apple. You wouldn’t think an app for doing unit conversions would pose any problem but Apple thought otherwise. Apple’s policy states that Developers are not allowed to use any images that duplicate or closely resemble Apple’s own icons. The reason is that Apple worries that its users might get confused.
Apple noticed that Convertbot’s time icon looked somewhat like the iPhone’s ‘Recents’ icon. Puzzled users thought they would exit the Convertbot app and go into their call logs while they actually ended up doing conversions.
The issue was rectified and you can have a look at this app at the App Store link and download it for $0.99
3. Tweetie
This might come as a suprise for most of the twitter folks but Tweetie v1.3 was rejected by Apple for “obscenity”. When the App was submitted incidently there were tweets running around which involved heavy swearing. When the App moderators saw the words they knew what to do considering the huge number of apps they have to go through every day.
Twitter allows swearing and Apple doesn’t seem to know that. You can have a look at the App Store link and buy it for $2.99.
4. Google Voice + Latitude
The Google Voice app and the way Apple handled it is one of the most talked topics in the app world.Apple denied to the FCC it ever rejected the app while Google disputes that saying Apple has denied multiple requests to add the app to its app stores for its users. The app remains missing.
Apple says that it is in policy that it cannot let any app remain that mimcs its features and functionality.
Google Latitude which is a map-based social networking service is also missing from the app store. Apple reasons that it will confuse users when they intend to use the Google maps. The truth might be that Apple wants to come up with its own App for social networking which is in works. You can read about that here.
5. Grand Tour 3D
It is true that Apple rejects an app for reasons that don’t have anything to do with the program itself. There are also a thorough set of rules that go into the accepting an app to the app store. The Grand Tour-3D app mentioned that the app costs “about $$149,999,995.01 less then the Voyager probes”. Apple mentioned that developers are not allowed to explicitly mention the price of their apps in order to avoid confusion for accessing the apps for users with a different currency.
The App was rejected and was resubmitted with necessary changes. You can have a look at App Store link and download it for, yes a $0.99, much less than what Voyager costs 🙂
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