14 DAY TRIAL // In an exclusive interview, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP for worldwide product marketing, outlined the numerous factors that took their toll on the application-approval process. Schiller went as far as claiming developers were happy with its way of doing things, although many would say that was not entirely true.
Suggesting that Apple acted as a retailer regarding its iTunes App Store, Schiller said that the company wanted nothing but the best-of-breed products finding their way onto its shelves. Apple’s SVP of product marketing revealed that nearly ten percent of apps with notable technical flaws and “inappropriate content” were rejected. However, Apple also has to ensure that, upon download, an app will work as expected, let alone potential trademark issues that may miss the eyes of Apple’s reviewing staff during tests.
“We've built a store for the most part that people can trust,” Schiller upheld. “You and your family and friends can download applications from the store, and for the most part they do what you'd expect, and they get onto your phone, and you get billed appropriately, and it all just works!”
And while that’s a statement we can all live with, the one to follow may not appeal all that much to developers.
“Most are approved and some are sent back to the developer,” Schiller is said to have added in the BusinessWeek interview. “In about 90% of those cases, Apple requests technical fixes—usually for bugs in the software or because something doesn’t work as expected,” the publication reveals, based on Schiller’s statements. “Developers are generally glad to have this safety net because usually Apple’s review process finds problems they actually want to fix,” Schiller actually suggested, according to BusinessWeek.
If you’re an iPhone developer (or have a relationship with Apple), and don’t agree with what was said in this interview, share your thoughts in the comments. It wouldn’t be the first time a developer vehemently dismissed Apple’s point of view.