Filed under: Developer, iPhone
iPhone developer rejection letter mass mailing
If you've applied for Apple's iPhone Developer program, check email for your rejection letter. The twitterati are reporting widespread disappointment and anger as thousands of iPhone developer hopefuls have received a "Thank you but no thank you" message in their inbox. The emails are arriving with the subject of iPhone Developer Program Enrollment Status.
Did you get accepted? Do you know anyone who did? Let us know in the comments. Some readers are reporting acceptance -- if you've been accepted please send us some more details -- but they appear to be confusing the iPhone online developer SDK download with the "iPhone developer program," which you can learn more about at Apple's site. What we are talking about here is the $99 signup for the developer program, which includes a signing certificate to allow applications to run on physical iPhones and not just in the Aspen simulator. Just because you have downloaded the Xcode SDK components does not make you an iPhone dev Jedi -- if you haven't paid your $99, or you haven't been invited to pay it, you have no lightsaber.
Corporations have been rejected and so have individuals. Premiere members, Select members, Online members, all rejected. To be clear, these rejections are not for the general iPhone SDK download program but for the paid $99 developer/AppStore access program. I have not been able to confirm any acceptances into this latter program.
Out of country developers are reporting slightly different rejections. One anonymous developer received this message: "At this time, the iPhone Developer Program is only available in the US, and will expand to other countries during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time."
An absolutely LOL moment from Daniel Jalkut, which I quote in full: "In other news, it looks like the Jailbreak Developer Program still has open slots, and people are getting approved as I type."
TUAW reader UO perfectly summarizes the dilemma: "I got a rejection this morning too. What if I never get accepted? Spending that much time (until June?) working on code I may never be able to ship is an unacceptable risk right now."
Dear Registered iPhone Developer, Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. As this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time. Thank you for applying. Best regards, iPhone Developer Program
And just one more reminder: this is less about 'rejection' than it is about developers being unable to commit resources when Apple won't give a firm go-ahead. Feel free to think about it as a "limbogram" rather than an outright rejection.
Unconfirmed insider reports are trickling in. One blue & green anonymous tipster tells us that Apple has yet to set up its certificate management system and cannot issue developer certs until this is finished and put in place. While this doesn't explain why Apple sent out its letters worded the way they were, it might explain why TUAW cannot find a single developer who has documentedly been accepted into the system.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
noza said 12:53PM on 3-14-2008
Rejected. I'm thinking thought that they probably gave priority to Companies over Individuals.
I should have signed up as a company (ie, myself with a fancy name) vs. just signing up as myself.
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James said 12:57PM on 3-14-2008
Companies are getting rejected too.
iPhoneGuy said 12:54PM on 3-14-2008
Denied! That sucks!!! What is or was the criteria? Since the application did not ask you anything important like what are you planning on working on... Are people who are getting accepted top level ADC members?
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Martin said 12:56PM on 3-14-2008
Is this a rejection?
Dear Registered iPhone Developer,
Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. As this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time.
Thank you for applying.
Best regards,
iPhone Developer Program
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Peter Zich said 12:59PM on 3-14-2008
Sounds like it.
ars_workerbee said 1:43PM on 3-14-2008
Nope, that's no rejection. That's a "not yet" response.
Talk about mountains out of molehills, sheesh. Erica and all the rest need to save the drama for their mamas.
James said 1:59PM on 3-14-2008
No, this is a problem. Apple is being more selective than people expected. They assumed, I think reasonably, that Apple would accept anyone willing to pay the $99. Whether or not somebody will be selected later is now an open question. With that question open, as Digitalleon and UI said, it is now not a good idea to spend time developing until you are accepted.
Dave Wood said 12:56PM on 3-14-2008
FYI, I was signed up as a company, and still was rejected. Here's the text from the rejection letter:
Dear Registered iPhone Developer,
Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. As this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time.
Thank you for applying.
Best regards,
iPhone Developer Program
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SaudiGamer said 12:56PM on 3-14-2008
Denied :(
Then again no iPhones (or even iTunes store) are available here in Saudi Arabia :(
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Digitalleon said 12:57PM on 3-14-2008
I was rejected this morning. I'm pretty irritated about it. I feel like I should have used my work email address instead of my personal one - perhaps that would have gained their attention.
Instead I used the account that's associated with the 2 iphones, mac pro, mac book pro, airport express and macbook. I figured that demonstrating that I was a long standing customer was more important. I guess not.
I know I can still work on the non-graphic intensive applications using the emulator.
The problem is this.
* Why was I rejected?
* Will I ever be approved?
* Is it worth me continuing to build applications that I may never be able to ship.
Overall I'm pretty pissed off at Apple and I'm ceasing all iphone development. I was more than willing to pay the $100 SDK "fee". (after all that's cheaper than visual studio)
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Binja said 12:58PM on 3-14-2008
iPhone Developer Program
-----------------------------------
Dear ,
Thank you for registering as an iPhone Developer. To access the iPhone Dev Center and download the free SDK, simply click on the link below, and sign in using your Registered iPhone Developer Apple ID and password.
Your Registered iPhone Developer Apple ID is:
Download Free SDK
http://connect.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/iphone.woa/29/wa/default?verificationCode=57973&wosid=HdCQbOE0bc0y05Hykq0fcM&mode=download_sdk&successPath=%2Fiphone%2Flogin.action%3F
If you need further assistance, please contact us.
iPhone Developer Program
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ramond said 12:59PM on 3-14-2008
They did say they were accepting USA applicants only. Is that why you got rejected?
drewpurchacct said 1:03PM on 3-14-2008
The letter you copied is just for developer registration, it has nothing to do with the beta program referred to in this article...
Peter Zich said 1:01PM on 3-14-2008
I don't think they're denying the free ones, only the certificate $99 or $299 ones.
James F said 6:37PM on 3-14-2008
You do realize they can pull your membership for posting the SDK link (with your userid in the URL) right? It violates their NDA.
drewpurchacct said 12:59PM on 3-14-2008
I think the only reason for rejection at this point is that, they are only testing this with a few people/companies and they are only accepting people they know are big developers. They probably also see a need to limit the beta because they assume that some users are just trying to get a copy so they can load pre-released software "legitimately." I don't know, of course, but I am speculating this to be the case. (I also got rejected.)
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Cycomachead said 7:23PM on 3-14-2008
yeah, If I had an iPhone and $100 I would've done it just for that!
They may also be panicking due to the jailbreak community's notice about unlocking 2.0.
I do know a lot of non-devs were willing to pay. That's free cash for Apple right there!!
chris.dressler said 1:01PM on 3-14-2008
For those of you that were accepted, any details about what information you provided to Apple when you signed up?
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Steve Sande said 1:02PM on 3-14-2008
No rejecto yet! Of course, I used to be a Newton Developer. They wouldn't reject me for THAT, would they? :-)
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Jack Black said 1:03PM on 3-14-2008
Here's an idea for the verification process: why not ask for my iPhone phone number? With that, they should be able to tell instantly that I am a U.S. citizen...and that I am an iPhone customer. Not to mention correlating it with ADC membership. That should be worth something...
At least they finally are doing something...hopefully every day new people/companies will get accepted.
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