App Store Name Squatters Get The Boot
by Joe White
September 11, 2010
A couple of days ago, Apple made some pretty interesting revisions to its App Store approval guidelines. This has resulted in a variety of things; comments from Google and Adobe, the potential resubmission of Google Voice apps, and the expulsion of app name squatters from the App Store.
As you might expect, application names can be reserved ahead of an app's actual development. This means that by simply paying the $99 yearly developer fee, name squatters can squat on as many potential app names as possible. This prevents legitimate devs from acquiring the name they want through iTunes Connect.
However, Apple's latest tweak to its App Store guidelines now prevents this from happening. If developers haven't uploaded the binary for their app within 90 days, a friendly email from Apple (see image below) will inform the squatter that he has another 30 days to upload a binary, or the name will be made available "for another developer to use."
Obviously, this is great news for legitimate developers who are looking for the perfect name for their application. And, what's more, it's yet another good thing to come out of Apple's terms of service revisions. For a full annotated list of changes, be sure to check out our article, which explains them all. And, thanks to TechCrunch for spotting this!