Podcaster Rejected From App Store For 'Duplicating iTunes Features'
Podcaster, an application for subscribing, downloading, and streaming podcasts directly to the iPhone, was recently rejected from the App Store. According to Podcaster's developer, Alex S, the Apple rep said that "Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes." was the reason for the rejection.
The ever increasing number of applications which are being rejected from the App Store has some developers concerned about Apple's policies. During the March 6th event, Steve Jobs stated that only applications which are inappropriate, dangerous, or which violate Apple's TOS would be rejected from the store. As with Podcaster, many applications have either been rejected our outed from the App Store even though they don't seem to be against Apple's imaginary guidelines.
John Gruber's response to the rejection expresses what most developers feel about Apple's unofficial guidelines.
If you only find out at the end of the development process that your app has been rejected — not for a technical problem that you can address but because Apple deems the entire concept to be out of bounds — then who is going to put serious time and talent into an iPhone app?
The developer of Podcaster is currently giving out a limited number of ad hoc builds for those who donate $9.99 or more. If interested, you can submit your iPhone's UUID at http://www.nextdayoff.com/.
[via MacRumors]
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I believe that competition is a good thing. There are people out there for which Apple's iPod features will be best but there are also people out there that will love the funtionality of this product and might suit them better. Choice! Having competing products makes more people happy because they can choose what works best for their own situation and how they use the device.
Good idea to sell ad-hoc version of the software to try and recoup something for all of his lost time.