A not-so-new problem seems to be getting more attention these days: app squatting. While the creative mind could think of a million possible definitions for the phrase 'app squatting,' think domain name squatters but for applications in the App Store.
Apparently, Apple allows would-be developers to register the name of their app without actually developing the app, even before completely submitting it for approval.Worse: taken app names are untraceable, unlike domain names that at least have a registered contact. One developer, Atomic Antelope, found its forthcoming app's name Twitch to be taken by an unknown squatter, with no sign of a Twitch in the App Store.
Atomic Antelope explains:
"A few days ago we went to submit Twitch to the app store. We’d searched the store earlier in the development process, to make sure that no one else had used the name. But what’s this? The submission form tells us that someone else is using the name of our app. But how can this be when there is no app called Twitch in the app store?"
Atomic Antelope co-founder, Chris Stevens, says they are waiting to hear back from Apple regarding the problem, and issued a statement to App Store squatters:
"Stop it, just stop it. You’re ruining it for people who’ve put time and energy into real projects."
