Comments on: MacApper Exclusive: Newber Developer Gives up on App Store

By: Arlo

Arlo — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:57:02 +0000

iCall was just approved in the App store about 30 minutes ago. Who would have guessed.

By: Cy Starkman

Cy Starkman — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:37:39 +0000

The no minutes could be a claim but then why is Fring on the iPhone or any number of other VOIP apps that are also on the iPhone.

Obviously the ‘no minutes’ story is only if you are in a WiFi area. Unless they are proposing a VOIP over 3G which Apple has already said no way to (for carrier bowing reasons). The article even states that if you place a Newber call via 3G then you burn both Newber and Carrier minutes.

Other than that, its not more than a fancy number redirector, I had one such thing for years, very handy. Perhaps it is an exclusivity reason, I doubt it though.

If there is a real reason it would be related to the same issue that Podcast dude met with, its a feature they are planning.

I’d say with that in mind, the reason why they have said nothing is partly because the Podcast dude spilt the beans, that Apple was releasing (and did) podcast management, and its pretty good and via Cellular. The other part of it is that this stuff is coming for iPhone 2.0 as opposed to iPhone with 3G, which was further away and Apple would have done themselves too much damage by revealing what was coming by giving this mob a reason.

In this case, the article i’d say mentions the very reason. Google Grand Central, or something like it.

Its better for Apple to get some bad press about snubbing a developer than to give away their plans nearly a year before they want to launch it.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:59:58 +0000

Jim – you hit the nail on the head. Have these (Newber) guys no brains at all?

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:33:53 +0000

I kind of think they sealed their fate with this statement:
“the ability to take calls without burning your AT&T minutes.”

Do you really think Apple is going to allow an app that takes away income from their phone partner, AT&T?

Still, I think it’s absolutely mind-blowing that Apple doesn’t have the common courtesy to fire off an email saying “look, your app seems cool, but we can’t allow it due to XYZ feature” or something to that effect.

The whole App Store process for developers is broken. Unfortunately, I just don’t see Apple “fixing it” anytime soon. Apparently, in their eyes it isn’t broken.