∞ Has the media been unfair to Apple and the App Store?

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I was sitting among 90,000 people at an AC/DC concert on Thursday when news broke that Apple’s Phil Schiller had responded to media reports saying Apple had censored a dictionary in order for it to be included in the App Store.

iPhone 3GSNot being in the middle of the “news game” for several hours gave me some time to think about the original report and about the clarification that Schiller gave. In between “Back In Black” and “Highway to Hell,” I wondered if the media had been unfair to Apple over the past year with its handling of the App Store.

I am far from innocent in this whole matter. I’ve blasted Apple over its handling of apps, showing my frustration with the way the company flip-flops on approving apps and then pulling them from the store. But it could be that there is more to it than we first see.

Take Ninjawords as an example. On Wednesday media outlets around the world reported that Apple had told the developer to remove objectionable words from the app before it would be accepted.

Even though that turned out to be untrue, we all believed it. This is certainly part of the problem — we took that story at face value because of Apple’s past history in dealing with app developers. Rejecting apps for seemingly no good reason or removing apps with no explanation.

With 65,000 apps in the store, all we seem to focus on are the few that get rejected.

I’m not giving Apple a free pass here, merely wondering if, perhaps, there are reasons that some of the other apps have been rejected.

Ultimately, it’s Apple’s responsibility to keep the developers informed on their policies and they certainly haven’t done that very well. If Ninjawords teaches us anything, it should be that there are always two sides to every story.


  • Brad Brooks

    At last, some sense. Thanks Jim.

  • iphonerulez

    I doubt the negative media has little affect on sales of iPhones and iPod Touches. I’d say that most of the people I know that use the devices are very satisfied with what they have and what they can get on their devices. These whining developers and tech-heads live in some world that most people that use Apple products don’t even notice. This vocal group that constantly complains about Apple pulling apps like Google Voice or censoring apps are probably idealists that believe everything should go according to their wishes. If it weren’t for Apple jumpstarting the whole smartphone industry, they’d probably be disrupting the workplaces where they previously worked. Out on the streets picketing, if they had to put in overtime or their bosses yelled at them or maybe they’d just get fired.

    These whiners know that Apple rules the App Store with an iron fist, so why don’t they just go to a more lenient platform like Palm or WinMo or their best choice, Android, instead of bitching and crying about Apple’s strict policies. It’s Apple’s store to do as Apple sees fit. These developers believe that some other platform is going to be perfect to develop for but I doubt it. I honestly do wish these griping developers would just go to another platform quietly.

    I’ll bet 98% of Apple developers are happy or at least satisfied, and the vocal 2% are really too small in number to bring down the App Store. The people I know that carry iPhones and iPod Touches don’t even read tech blogs because they’re too busy doing other things more important.

    I think Apple will sort out most problems with apps in time, but developers think these things can be done in a few weeks and it isn’t going to happen that quickly. Apple may be working with lawyers trying to find ways to protect itself from third-party lawsuits and such. I’m not a developer risking my money, so maybe these developers have a point, but smearing a company you’re trying to work for isn’t always such a good idea.

  • Steve W

    I think the problem is that when people see the App Stores high marketshare, the iPhones high margins, and AAPLs profit and stock price; people want to believe that Apple is doing something wrong.

    The words empire and evil just seem to go together, kind of like journalism and yellow.

    • http://www.van-garde.com Daniel Swanson

      @ Steve W

      Wrong.

      The key words are “greed” and “envy”. Apple is prospering in these so-called “hard times”, which should show people that “hard times” is no good excuse for anything.

  • Peter

    “Even though that turned out to be untrue, we all believed it.”

    Now, you see, after reading Phil’s statement, I don’t think it was untrue.

    No, Apple never said, “If you remove these words, we’ll let you in the app store.” What Apple said, according to Phil, is “We won’t let you in the app store with those words. If you want to wait for some unspecified time in the future, when we have parental controls, we’ll consider letting you in then.”

    If the border guard says, “Do that and I’ll shoot you,” it’s a threat. If the border guard says, “Don’t do that and I won’t shoot you,” the message is still the same–even if it’s been couched in a negative.

    So, yes, Apple did tell the developer to remove the objectionable words.

    Honestly, what Apple needs to do, quite simply, is provide a way for applications to be installed on the iPhone. Google got this one right, in my opinion. Buy from the Android Store and everything is fine. Download an app and install it and it comes up with appropriate warnings saying, “Hey, you may not want to do this…”

  • Brian Akaka

    Thanks for pointing this out Jim.

    There’s definitely been some demonizing of Apple’s App Store approval team, and while some criticism is warranted, I feel like it’s really been overblown.

    It seems like there’s been a feeding frenzy in the media about this topic in particular, and this latest round just illustrates how things are becoming irrational. Just mention “App Store Rejection” and people say that it’s Apple doing evil to developers. Personally, I’d be happy if Apple went through the App Store and rejected 90% of the existing apps that are already there, but that’s just me.

    I’m not on Apple’s “side” on any of this, but I agree that the media should focus on a wider range of issues than this, the topic has been beaten to death. As an iPhone fanatic, I’d much rather hear about a new way the iPhone is going to change my life, rather than the struggles of a particular App that shows boobs.

  • Jim Dalrymple

    Some good points made here. Brian, I think you’re right to some extent in that it’s been overblown, but devs do deserve answers.

    Steve is also right that people love to see the mighty fall.

    • http://www.van-garde.com Daniel Swanson

      “Steve is also right that people love to see the mighty fall.”

      You have to qualify that, Jim.

      Psychotics love to see the mighty fall, in fact, they love to see anyone fall, because EVERYONE is against them. Just because there are so many of them around these days, doesn’t make that generality true.

      I personally LOVE that Apple is doing so well, but dismayed that seemingly so few are realizing that they, too, could prosper with a good dose of intelligence and a lot of hard work.

  • Doug Petrosky

    I have to disagree with you Peter.

    Apple had set a ship date for iPhone 3.0 and had been very clear that parental controls would be part of that release. Further, maybe it was just me but I was under the understanding that Apple rejected it for words that were common to most dictionaries, but Phill indicated that the objectionable words were those common but slang that was more offensive.

    Apple has a good family image and needs to protect that. It would be ill-responsible of them to release this type of application before they had some form of parental controls.

    I don’t see people picketing Wallmart or BlockBuster for them trying to maintain their family friendly image, so why get so bent about Apple?

    Just my view point.

    • http://www.van-garde.com Daniel Swanson

      Why get so bent about Apple?

      There are people who get very nervous and even upset when things get better.

  • loopy

    No, Apple deserves and needs some harsh criticism on the App store.

  • AdamC

    Apple is in the business of seeing and ensuring a success of their products and creating value for their shareholders and developers.

    They have vested interest to look after, not like bloggers who have nothing to lose.

    Apple will do their utmost to solve these problems and I believe Apple will not be as secretive in the future because they are coming into their own as a consumer enterprise.

    With a small user base they can afford to be secretive but as their market share gets bigger they have to be more transparent and accountable because their consumers demand it.

    They have been listening – firewire (even though an user can boot up from the USB port), and will continue to listen and the Apple of tomorrow cannot afford to be the Apple of yesterday.

  • Eric

    Peter has missed the point. Apple specifically told them that Parental Controls were coming soon and to wait for that. The developer, at their sole discretion, self-censored and released anyway, like a kid who wouldn’t wait for Christmas.

    Nothing is stopping them from un-censoring the app now. I jumped to the same conclusion as most did, that this was Apple being bone-headed again, shortly after the Google Voice fiasco – for which someone should be roundly criticized, whether it’s Apple, AT&T or both. The FTC and FCC are looking into these and other incidents.

    But give Schiller credit, he did respond (uncharacteristically for Apple, so we know these criticisms are stinging quite smartly).

    I think as someone else I can’t remember wrote (not had my coffee yet this morning) it’s possible the people who approve and reject apps might have self-interest in rejecting more apps than necessary. It makes them look like they’re doing their jobs. I wonder if this is the case. It certainly seems to fit the facts more than “Apple is the new Microsoft” meme making it around the web these days.

    From the perspective of my newspaper days, the typical reporting style I see around the Internet (with this and a few other blogs not what I’m referring to) would lead to a lot of firings for not doing due diligence. I jump to conclusions like the next guy. But never when I was doing my job as a journalist.

    Journalism 101 “You say your mother loves you? Check it out.”