Justin Williams: ‘Where Do I Sign Up?’

iPhone developer Justin Williams:

With the latest app rejection being Google Voice, I am one step closer to selling off my iPhone products and focusing entirely on the Mac once more. I can’t help but feel that I’ve wasted the past 9 months of my life building on a platform that is so hostile and anti-developer.

And he makes a strong point here:

Rather than saying duplicating functionality, I wish Apple would just own up and say why they are really rejecting these apps: they compete with existing Apple products or Apple’s carrier partners. Google Voice and GV Mobile compete with Apple & AT&T by offering an alternative to hefty minute and SMS plans.

This “duplicate functionality” explanation is worse than no explanation at all, because it just can’t be the true reason. If “duplicate functionality” were disallowed, there’d be no third-party note apps, or timers, or calculators. If Apple is not willing to say that they removed Google Voice apps because AT&T required them to (and who knows, perhaps their contract with AT&T prevents Apple from saying so), it’d be better if they just said “We will not explain the reasons behind this decision” than to offer an explanation that doesn’t make sense.

★ Wednesday, 29 July 2009