AMBER Alert Developer Sends Open Letter To Steve Jobs
March 9, 2009
Many developers have been seeing massive delays in the App Store's application and contract approval process. The process seems to have simply broken down, forcing developers to exhaust all means of contact in an attempt to get some sort of clarification of the situation. One developer has decided to try a new approach, sending an open letter to the man himself, Steve Jobs.
The last time we spoke about Jonathan Zdziarski's AMBER Alert application, we concluded with, "The application will be free of charge and should be available shortly at the App Store, pending approval." For some reason, the application has been stuck in the review process since February 14th.
The application, from our simple understanding of Apple's review process, doesn't seem to break any rules. If that's the case, AMBER Alert should have been approved a long time ago, at least according to Zdziarski:
To: Steve Jobs’ Executive Team From: Jonathan Zdziarski Subject: AMBER Alert Application Steve, The need to send this email represents everything that is wrong with your App Store review process. I’ve been working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to build an App Store application that revolutionizes how missing children are reported to law enforcement. By using the iPhone’s GPS and some geo-analytics, we’re able to build automated search radii and quickly relay sightings to law enforcement agencies. With an audience of millions of iPhone users, the missing kids that are out there stand to gain a LOT more exposure. Yet nearly a month has passed since my February 14th submission, and the application continues to sit “In Review”. NCMEC has adapted their infrastructure to handle these submissions and has a call center trained to respond to them, as well as their CIO, regional directors, and many others ready to devote time to making this application successful - yet this entire team continues to wait on Apple to approve this application. I won’t get into the politics of the App Store review process, or my beliefs about how this has hurt your relationship with independent developers. Instead, I’m simply asking that you pick up the phone and help push this application through. If you had to sit and look at these kids, as I have in the time I did developing and testing this application, you’d realize just how urgent it is to have an application like this be able to get information out (and sightings back in). As a developer and a human being, I’m anxious to see this application released. If I were the parent of one of these missing children, I would be unable to withstand the unreasonable delays Apple has taken in approving this application. The reprobate and fearful world these children are surviving in may very well be prolonged because of Apple’s lack of interest in independent developers like me. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss this. Otherwise, I hope you’ll do the right thing and light a fire under someone’s seat in the App Store. If there is any application that should be getting reviewed today, this is it. Jonathan ZdziarskiTime and time again we have witnessed applications getting stuck in application approval limbo. For whatever reason, Apple isn't being very clear on what the problem is with these offending applications. If Apple would simply come out and say they are having issues with their own system I am sure developers would be a bit more understanding. Because Apple remains mum on the situation, developers are becoming frustrated and clogging up the system even more. The vicious cycle will only continue until Apple speaks up. [via iPhoneWorld]