Rare glances into the App Store approval process
Two recent situations have allowed the world a look into the Apple App Store approval process: the required response to FCC questions and the Rhapsody app submission.
In the year-plus that the Apple App Store has existed, some of the actions taken during the app approval process have been seen as controversial by members of the press and app developers alike. It has been difficult to determine just what the approval process was and how some of Apple’s decisions have been reached. A game app that required the user to shake a baby to death in order to win was approved, then withdrawn, for example, and that the Google Voice app has stayed in the approval queue for a long time without action.
Apple’s lengthy response to official questions by the FCC in their inquiry into possible anti-competitive behavior regarding the as-yet-unapproved Google Voice app made public a number of facts previously unknown to the general public. For example, the app approval team consists of 40 or more Apple employees, a size that surprised a lot of Apple-watchers. The answers also provided the reason why: the App Store receives over 8,500 submissions per month between new submissions and update submissions, according to a New York Times story. In a process both huge and subjective, a lot can potentially go wrong.
The other window has not yet fully opened but has a lot of industry pundits trying to get a peek through the first crack. In a situation similar to the Google Voice app, where the app could be seen as a threat to the partnership of Apple and AT&T, Rhapsody has submitted an app that could be seen as competition to the Apple iTunes store. Voice has not yet been approved, though it has been in the queue for much longer than the Apple-stated “normal” approval process time. Insiders are already saying that the Rhapsody app will face some very tough sledding in that same process, according to a ZDNet story.
How these stories play out will tell us a lot about how Apple walks the line between fair and open behavior, as opposed the squelching the competition at every opportunity. Of course, how Apple comes out regarding these new revelations will depend to some degree upon the perception of the beholder. The process truly is subjective. At the same time, though, we will see over the next month or so if Apple is as anti-competitive as its detractors claim. This is going to be an interesting month.
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