Another iPhone App Developer Quits Protesting App Store Policing

Another day and yet another app developer calls it quits in protest against Apple' App Store policies. 

Shortly after Joe Hewitt, the lead developer at Facebook's iPhone app development team quit, today Rogue Amoeba has announced that they are following suit. 

Rogue Amoeba is one of the earliest companies to join the app development bandwagon with release of iPhone apps such as MakeiPhoneRingtone. However, the company has apparently taken to move away from iPhone app development after their brush with Apple's policing over their Airfoil Speakers Touch app. 

This iPhone app was released on the App Store a few months back. But problems apparently surfaced when Rogue Amoeba had to issue updates to their software to fix certain bugs. Apple, which had problems with their use of "Apple-owned Graphic Symbols" on their app had rejected the update. Rogue Amoeba, which claims that the use of Mac graphics was to represent navigational elements only and so was within development rules, had been struggling to get past Apple's gatekeeping since July of this year.

In a blog post announcing the release of Airfoil Speakers Touch 1.0.1, the company has written that while the update is finally ready for download, they are shelving future iPhone app projects. In their words, 

"The chorus of disenchanted developers is growing and we’re adding our voices as well. Rogue Amoeba no longer has any plans for additional iPhone applications, and updates to our existing iPhone applications will likely be rare. The iPhone platform had great promise, but that promise is not enough, so we’re focusing on the Mac"

With yet another iPhone app developer quitting in protest, how is this going to affect the app ecosystem? Like Joe Hewitt himself notes, for every developer that quits in frustration, there are a thousand who enter. 

However, we need to note that while we could only discuss protests from app developers who have already made a name for themselves in what is a mini-industry in itself, there could be several iPhone apps with great potential that never made it because of Apple's policies. 

The current crop of events is a perfect opportunity for Apple to sit down and have a relook at their App Store policies. While other developers would no doubt fill in the void created by developers such as Rogue Amoeba or Joe Hewitt, it is the transparency in the system that shall give Apple the edge over its competitors in the long run and this is exactly what the company should be striving for. 

What do you think?

[via 9to5Mac]

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