rejection

How much control will Apple have over news app content?

Mark Fiore's job is making fun of political figures. And he's actually quite good at it, according to the Pulitzer Prize Committee.

Earlier this week it named him the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning, but Apple rejected an iPhone app containing Fiore's cartoons in December. The reason? Apple said applications that ridicule public figures are not allowed.

That presents a problem for Fiore, and all editorial cartoonists and political satirists who'd like to submit their work to the App Store for that matter, because, well, that's what they do.

Luckily for Fiore, the Nieman Journalism Lab took up his cause and wrote about his app's rejection. A day later Apple relented, and on Friday asked Fiore to resubmit. The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that Steve Jobs himself called it "a mistake that's being fixed." That's great for Fiore, but not every political satirist is a Pulitzer winner who can get publicity for his app's unfair rejection.

So what does that mean for the future of news or editorial products on the iPad and iPhone? It's safe to assume that quashing political satire isn't Apple's goal here. But it's a legitimate concern for the journalism community that to be featured on the App Store they have to submit their news content to a company unafraid to exercise what sometimes seems like arbitrary control. The thinking goes, what if Apple finds a headline offensive? Or what if there's an unfavorable article about Apple itself even? That's not to say Apple would do that, but its inconsistent handling of App Store submissions sets a troubling precedent. … Read more

Apple rejects Mad artist's iPhone caricature app

A Mad Magazine contributor has been told by Apple that his iPhone app featuring drawings and contact information of members of the 111th Congress has been rejected because it depicts politicians in an objectionable light.

According to Tom Richmond, who wrote about his app's rejection on his personal blog, his app--dubbed Bobble Rep-111th Congress Edition--in no way should have been construed as objectionable.

Richmond said that the focus of the app was to create a "database of all the members of the United States Congress which allowed the user to find the names and contact information of their senators and congressional representative either via Zip code or by using the iPhone's GPS location services." Rather than use the politicians' individual portraits, the app depicts each senator and representative in caricature form, which Richmond drew himself. All told, the app features 540 caricatures of the politicians.… Read more

Google vs. Apple: Who's telling the truth?

First it was Steve Jobs' health. Then it was the layoffs earlier this year. Now the Google Voice rejection. Apple's credibility is being questioned yet again.

Anyone who deals with Apple on a regular basis knows it is a company that gives information on its own terms. But now even the federal government is having problems getting a clear answer regarding Apple's rejection of the Google Voice application for the iPhone.

On July 28, Google announced that the calling and message service application had been rejected from Apple's App Store. Three days later, Google, Apple, and AT&… Read more

Commodore 64 iPhone emulator approved, yanked

The Commodore 64 emulator application for iPhone, previously rejected by Apple, was approved for availability in the App Store over the weekend, only to get pulled days later.

Apple blocked the sale of the iPhone app, dubbed C64, from the store on Tuesday without explaining why, according to developer Manomio. And while Apple was not immediately available for comment regarding the C64 app, which is designed to enable users to play classic Commodore 64 games and run applications, Manomio says it believes that the yanking is related to an available work-around that enables users to activate the Commodore BASIC interpreter, … Read more

California data held up for Offender Locator app

Previously, after a short banishment, the Offender Locator iPhone app was back on iTunes, but without access to offender data from California.

After contacting California attorney R. Sebastian Gibson to determine whether the app breaks any California laws, ThinAir Wireless, the app's creator, submitted an updated version of Offender Locator re-enabling access to the California data well over a week ago.

In his reply, which CNET obtained Wednesday, Gibson said that Offender Locater does not break any California laws. He also disputed an early complaint about the app (shown below) that said it was not legal in California because &… Read more

Behind 10 eyebrow-raising App Store rejections

Frustrated programmers have highlighted what they believe to be double standards, strange policies, and flip-flopping among Apple's App Store guards.

Several developers whose applications have been rejected from the store, which hosts third-party software developed for the iPhone and iPod Touch, have published their correspondence with Apple.

Apple's rejections of apps accused of infringing a patent or copyright make sense to most industry insiders. But some App Store rejections have raised quite a few eyebrows.

In an attempt to highlight--and perhaps make some sense of--a few of the more questioned rejections, I've compiled a list of those that caused me to scratch my head.

The shock starts here

CastCatcher

CastCatcher Internet Radio was enjoying its placement in Apple's App Store until the company decided to release version 1.3. The new iteration was rejected by Apple for a strange reason.

Apple wrote in a letter to CastCatcher's developer, Amro Mousa, that the application's update was rejected because it transferred "excessive volumes of data over the cellular network." Mousa was a little perplexed by Apple's decision to suddenly deny the application access to the store, considering that the new version of the app didn't transfer more data than previous, approved versions. Worst of all, Mousa said, his app was using the same amount of data as competing streaming-radio applications.

Current status: Eventually, Mousa and Apple were able to reach a middle ground, and new versions of the application were allowed into the App Store. CastCatcher 1.4.4 is currently offered in Apple's store for $1.99.

Eucalyptus Eucalyptus, an e-book reader app, was denied access to Apple's App Store after the company found that it allowed users to read the Kama Sutra. The ancient book on sexuality was downloaded from Project Gutenberg, which the app used to acquire books.

In a letter sent to Eucalyptus developers, Apple said that the app was denied because it gave users access to "objectionable" material. If the developers removed the Kama Sutra from its book listings, Apple would have allowed the app into the Store.

Current status: After having some discussions with Apple, a Eucalyptus developer wrote on the company's blog that Apple had relented and would allow the full version of the app, Kama Sutra and all, into the App Store. It's currently available for $9.99.

FreedomTime

In a political statement, a group of developers created an application called FreedomTime, to count down the days left until former President George W. Bush has been out of office.

The app featured President Bush on an analog clock as it counted down until President Barack Obama's inauguration. When users clicked on the President's body, it played so-called "truthisms," clips from speeches President Bush had given about leaving office.

Apple rejected the application on the grounds that it was "defaming, demeaning, or attacking political figures." That's an App Store no-no, evidently.

Current status: FreedomTime is still not available in the App Store. In its place, a Web site has been built to countdown the number of days former President Bush has been out of office.… Read more

Offender Locator banished from iTunes App Store

Yesterday, Apple pulled from its App Store the paid version of a sex-offender-locating app called Offender Locator, according to Trip Wakefield, an employee of ThinAir Wireless. The free version of the app remains available for download.

According to Wakefield, the app was pulled for legal reasons. ThinAir is currently trying to contact Apple's legal department to get more detail, but at press time did not yet have an answer from Apple. (Trip also noted that although a TechCrunch story on the rejection suggests that the company is considering a lawsuit against Apple, no lawsuit has been threatened or filed … Read more

Apple rejects app for alleged iPhone image trademark violation

iPhone developers have often struggled to make sense of Apple's iPhone app store approval process. A recent rejection of Instapaper Pro ($9.99 from iTunes)--a tool that saves Web pages for reading later--is just as baffling. The app has already been available in the store as both a free (iTunes link) and a paid app, but the latest 1.4 version was denied by Apple.

According to the author of the app, Marco Arment, Instapaper Pro 1.4 was rejected because of the "middle icon" in the graphic below.

Arment writes on his Web site that … Read more

No update for you naughty Twitterers, Apple says

Since this report was published, Apple has decided to approve the app for the App Store. Read the updated story here.

Updated at 3:10 p.m. PDT with comment from Tweetie developer.

Remember the time your mom withheld your dessert because you said a bad word? Apple is doing something along those lines, with one major difference: it's because a bad word has been heard in the neighborhood.

According to iLounge, Apple has rejected version 1.3 of Tweetie, the popular Twitter client application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The reason? An offensive word appeared in Twitter's Trends data.

Somewhat similar to Google Trends, Twitter's Trends is a list of the most frequently used topics or words on Twitter at any given moment. This means this live list of words/topics changes constantly (I checked it just now and the offensive word--which starts with an "F," by the way--has gone). Yet, somehow it still bothers Apple enough to take action.

It seems that Apple, as a matter of policy, does not comment on the approval process for Apple applications. We have, however, contacted the company, and will update this post if we hear back.

In an e-mail to CNET News, however, Tweetie developer Loren Brichter said Apple quoted this part of the company's guidelines as a reason for the decision:

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod Touch users."

"The question then becomes whether is it an individual app's responsibility to censor everything it gets from the Internet," Brichter said. "Twitter themselves create the "top trends" list; Tweetie just displays it. The consensus is pretty much that it would be ridiculous to expect that.

"At the same time," the developer added, "this could have been just a goof on Apple's part. The App Store is still very young, they're working out the kinks."

Here's the long list of improvements in Tweetie 1.3 that all you naughty Twitterers with iPhones and iPod Touches are gonna miss out on--at least for now:… Read more