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The NetShare debacle: Apple, explain yourself

by Giles Turnbull Aug 4th 2008 at 5:00PM

About the App Store

Put yourselves in Nullriver's shoes for a minute: you create an app (NetShare - see TUAW passim), which as far as you can tell does not break any of the App Store rules. You submit it to Apple for inclusion. It passes the vetting procedure (so it must be OK, right?) and goes live online, for sale to real people.

Then it disappears, with no warning. No explanation is given. Then it returns. For a while. Again, no explanation. Then it goes offline again. (I've now lost count how many times NetShare has been online, then offline, rinse and repeat.)

And throughout all this, you get nothing from Apple. No explanation. No reason. No polite email asking you to wait. Not even an impolite email. Nothing.

What makes this more extraordinary is that developers of App Store products are not just developers; they are an income stream. Thirty per cent of the money we pay for every app goes directly to Apple, that's how the App Store works.

It's a deal, and deals work in two directions. Both sides get something. In this case, Apple gets software to offer to users of its exciting new platform. And the developers get access to a secure online distribution system, including payment processing, hosting, everything they need to sell their work.

Deals make partnerships, and partnerships (even unequal 30/70 ones) ought to work both ways. Apple expects (and has a right to expect) developers to behave themselves and act within the rules it has laid down. But in return, developers expect (and have every right to expect) Apple to be a responsible, indeed responsive store owner. At the very least, they have the right to know whether or not Apple considers their work suitable for sale in the Store, and to be told why it has been withdrawn. Then reinstated. Then withdrawn again. And so on.

But Apple has not done this. According to the updates on the Nullriver web site, Apple has simply ignored Nullriver's requests for an explanation. There might be a perfectly simple explanation for the whole sorry story -- that would be great! Apple's mistake is that it doesn't see a need to explain itself to anyone.

And you're all thinking what I'm thinking, which is that this is an echo of the MobileMe disaster, which required weeks of user complaints followed by days of negative coverage in the media before Apple saw fit to explain itself in public. And even when it did, it responded with a once-every-few-days, when-we-feel-like-it status page, which reeked of PR designed to paper over the cracks.

As I write these words, Nullriver's home page says: "Is this acceptable business practice? We don't think so. When an application fails to be approved or even more importantly so, when an application gets removed from sale, Apple should be required to provide a valid reason."

Hear hear, Nullriver. Hear hear.

UPDATE: Since posting this, Nullriver's home page has been updated with the following: "We've finally gotten in contact with Apple. Looks like the lack of communication was due to automated e-mail systems being employed on
both ends, which resulted in e-mails being lost in transit. We're working with Apple to get NetShare back up on the AppStore." Thanks to everyone who pointed this out in the comments,

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Analysis / Opinion Bad Apple App Store

Put yourselves in Nullriver's shoes for a minute: you create an app (NetShare - see TUAW passim), which as far as you can tell does not...
 

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James

Yes it must be awful. Not unlike buying software for a device, like a PSP for example, and then having the company stop updating it so it is now incompatible with the product. And then having said company continue selling the product to new people knowing it no longer works. Not that they are sending registration numbers after you pay.

In other words, yes it sucks when a company takes your money and then won't respond to emails. Nullriver knows how it feels now that the shoe is on the other foot.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/17474/pspware
http://www.psp411.com/show/forum/7

August 05 2008 at 4:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MikeB1667

The fantabulous iPint has also magically disappeared.

August 05 2008 at 1:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mmmayer

Now that the situation has resolved itself as an innocent e-mail glitch, this article by Giles Turnbull should be removed from the website. His article is full of invective, bile and venting. The only newsworthy portion has dissolved. Put this article where it now belongs: in the trash.

August 05 2008 at 10:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eideard

Anyone discussing this - outside the realm of fanboy wankers - understands the problems lie with apps which don't play nice with the AT&T network.

The rest of you may now return to telling Apple how to become a Montessori school for petty bourgeois children.

August 05 2008 at 7:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shane

I realise people in the USA think the world revolves around them, but what about the rest of the world?

I am in Australia & I own my iPhone 3G outright. It is not locked to any carrier and I am not locked into a contract. I have the freedom to use any telco I want, including ones that don't care if I tether.

If it is AT&T stopping this, then why can't I buy it in Australia seeing AT&T have no influence here & nothing contractually stops me from being able to use it?

Come on Apple - tell us what's going on!

Shane.

August 05 2008 at 12:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Robert Brodrecht

That's the rub. I don't approve of Apple's behavior, but I sure as hell don't want to use Windows. Or Linux. How do I protest?

August 05 2008 at 12:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris

This is straight from Nullriver's homepage

"We've finally gotten in contact with Apple. Looks like the lack of communication was due to automated e-mail systems being employed on both ends, which resulted in e-mails being lost in transit. We're working with Apple to get NetShare back up on the AppStore."

Miscommunication gets the best of us again.

August 04 2008 at 11:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
LuminousNerd.com

Apple is trying to do too many things at once. That's why there's been a lot of poorly thought out releases lately, and terrible lack of communication.

They need to hire more people, but I understand how incredibly difficult that is right now. Especially when Apple demands excellent, highly qualified staff (and rightly so). It's just hard to find.

I feel really bad for the company, because they're between a rock and a hard place. There's a lot they can't do about the situations they're in right now.

But Apple, if you're reading this, there is one thing you can do: just communicate with us. I'd like to think most of us will forgive you for making some mistakes if you can just let us know what's going on.

August 04 2008 at 11:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ron

well said!

August 04 2008 at 8:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Badr

from nullriver.com:


NetShare status report 2

We've finally gotten in contact with Apple. Looks like the lack of communication was due to automated e-mail systems being employed on both ends, which resulted in e-mails being lost in transit. We're working with Apple to get NetShare back up on the AppStore.

http://www.nullriver.com/

August 04 2008 at 8:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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