14 DAY TRIAL // An iPhone developer dared include a reference to Google’s Android operating system within its iPhone app’s description, a move that caught the eye of Apple’s review team. While not rejecting Flash of Genius LLC’s SAT Vocab app, Apple’s guys did advise the developer to exclude the upsetting reference from its application’s description, “to avoid an interruption in the availability of Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab 2.2 on the iPhone App Store.”
“It seems that Apple doesn’t like it when developers mention Android in their app descriptions,” Flash of Genius LLC discovered, as it was looking at a letter from Apple. “As in, they won’t let Flash of Genius do it, even though it’s relevant and helps to increase sales of our app, Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab.” In its blog post, the company included the original letter from Apple (reproduced below).
Dear Flash of Genius, LLC,
Thank you for submitting Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab 2.2 to the App Store. During our review of your application, we found that your application contains inappropriate or irrelevant platform information in the Application Description and/or Release Notes sections.
Providing future platform compatibility plans or other general platform references are not relevant in the context of the iPhone App Store. While your application has not been rejected, it would be appropriate to remove “Finalist in Google’s Android Developer’s Challenge!” from the Application Description [Emphasis added].
Please log into iTunes Connect to make appropriate changes to the Application Description now to avoid an interruption in the availability of Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab 2.2 on the iPhone App Store.
Regards,
iPhone Developer Program
“I suppose it’s logical, and I’m not complaining; Apple is a wonderful company to work with. I took out the offending bit from the description,” the developer added.
Apple is known to dislike references to competition featured in its products, and will go to great lengths to protect its trademarks, including the iPod name, and others. You can find Flash of Genius LLC’s SAT Vocab app just below. It costs $0.99 and it will help you learn vocabulary words for the SAT or any similar exam. It’s allegedly written by SAT tutors from Harvard and MIT.