tequila bomb

This may be enough to make me quite App Store Developing.

Some background.

Once you create your app in iTunes Connect and assign your app name, you will have 120 days to delivery a binary or your app will be deleted from iTunes Connect so your name is freed up for use by the developer community.

Whilst this is a patently absurd restriction, it is at least a rule construct that we can learn to work within. Why professional developers who pay for the privilege should have to do that is anybodies guess. But, hey, this is Apple. Unfortunately the rule is in itself an imperfect solution to something of a non-issue. App Store Name Squatting is yet to be any more than a minor blog phenomenon. One has to wonder why, therefore, Apple is keen to deal with this problem so aggressively. Less charitable minds than mine would think perhaps that Apple just want to turn over more apps in more volume than anything else. A pretty damning conclusion to come to.

Per section 3.2 of the iOS Developer Program License Agreement, to which you agreed, squatting on an app name to prevent legitimate third party use is prohibited.  We do understand that there may be a case where development could take longer than 120 days and to prevent this issue in the future, we recommend that you wait to create your app in iTunes Connect until you are further along in development.

The names that I, and quite a number of developers are sitting on, are not names which would make other developers slather at the mouth. They are simply catchy names associated with a long term project where we have already committed time, created resources, artwork, and perhaps storyline details (in the case of games) which are tightly tied to the name we have allocated.

To restrict the development progress of any developer, small or large, to 3 months from naming of a project to final release is completely unrealistic, insulting, and tends to suggest that these are arbitrary rules made up by accountants rather than people who develop software for a living.

If you wish to make an appeal for an extension, these are granted on a case-by-case basis.  Please email itunesconnect@apple.com placing your Apple ID in the email subject line as well as “Dev Forums – App Name Extension Request” and explain why you need an extension to the 120 day deadline.

What really galls me about this last bit is that I, and others, have already sent these exact emails to Apple over the last 30 days. More than once.

To date none of us have had a reply.

Apple have said that they hate us running to the press, or blogs, anytime they do something wrong in our eyes. And I sympathise with their position. And this hiccup is very much a function of their growing pains. I recognise that.

What I cannot forgive is people ignoring my emails. 3 or 4 times in a row.

And then asking me to send them again.

It’s just plain ignorant.