Filed under: Bad Apple, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Eucalyptus for iPhone gets a new lease on life
Eucalyptus [App Store] has been finally allowed to appear in the App Store after being rejected by Apple. The e-book reader for the iPhone and iPod touch was rejected because a person could get sexually oriented books like the Kama Sutra, even though the book is in the public domain and freely available on the web. The program author let us know the US$9.99 app was approved late last night. He said, "Earlier today I received a phone call from an Apple representative. He was very complimentary about Eucalyptus. We talked about the confusion surrounding its App Store rejections, which I am happy to say is now fully resolved. He invited me to re-build and submit a version of Eucalyptus with no filters for immediate approval, and that full version is now available on the iPhone App Store."
"Since my previous post, I've been so pleased with the overwhelmingly positive articles, blog posts, comments and tweets - and also the emails from those of you who felt so strongly about the issue you wanted to contact me directly. They were all much appreciated. Thanks for all the support. It's been a roller coaster of a weekend!"
The controversy over this app once again points out how crazy the Apple standards for applications are. Dozens of fart apps are fine (not to mention apps that thoroughly infringe other companies' IP or steal their graphics) but an e-book reader that simply loads public domain books was verboten. It doesn't make any sense, and further, the situation doesn't seem to be improving. Developers are left to try and get publicity to embarrass Apple into being a bit more sensible.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Birch said 1:51PM on 5-24-2009
Apple seems to always get it right in the end but they really have to stop loosen the restrictions on what they consider acceptable content because these stories are doing nothing to help their image.
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jeremy said 2:01PM on 5-24-2009
I think we are missing the ball here people... a $10 app that does what free Stanza does... Apple should reject on developer assholiosis.
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Buckingham said 3:04PM on 5-24-2009
I will pay $10 for it, maybe even $20. How about that?
Stanley said 2:12PM on 5-24-2009
Eucalyptus looks gorgeous, and appears to surpass the aesthetics of Classics and the flexibility of Stanza. Ever since obtaining an Amazon Kindle 2 reader, I haven't felt all that compelled to turn to the iPhone for electronic literature, though.
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Stephen said 2:20PM on 5-24-2009
$2, fine.
But $10? No flippin' way.
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Max said 2:46PM on 5-24-2009
Stanza looks a lot better than this and it's free. I would never pay $10 for some flashy page turning effects. I understand that developers make money but charging $10 for an app like this is unreasonable imo.
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James Donevan said 3:11PM on 5-24-2009
The key line here (which the developer is gracefully gliding over) is 're-build... with no filters'. Apple did not change its mind and approve the original submission. Apple wanted changes, the developer made them, the app was approved. This isn't a 'bloggers/publicity made Apple cave' story, it's a 'developer changes app as required and gets approval' story.
David beating Goliath is always better news copy than David learns lesson and does as Goliath says - as he could have days ago and saved bloggers tiring out their fingers.
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dance said 3:19PM on 5-24-2009
James, I don't know if you read the original (long) post from the developer? he had decided to re-submit the app with a filter blocking the Kama Sutra, to get around the crazy reviewer. That's the "no filters" referenced---in other words, Apple accepted the app as originally submitted. So yes, publicity made Apple cave, as I read it.
Michael Rose said 11:03AM on 5-25-2009
Apple did relent. The intermediate version was built with filters for no logical reason other than that the reviewer identified the Kama Sutra as problematic content.
phytonix said 3:37PM on 5-24-2009
Agreed. They just took some public domain free books and ask for $10. No thanks!
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Jargon said 9:22PM on 5-24-2009
Haha maybe you guys can post an article about my iPhone app store rejection next :)
http://jarin.posterous.com/the-offending-fmls
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Ed said 9:22PM on 5-24-2009
Apple will make some announcement on this mess at WWDC. They'll be announcing parental controls for the iPhone so hopefully these will come with clear guidelines of what is acceptable for each type of content, which should hopefully resolve most of the rejections due to 'objectionable' content. The only issue I can see is that if Apple don't allow 'adult' (or almost adult) apps, it will still be unclear where the ultimate limit is.
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Peter Payne said 10:15AM on 5-25-2009
Warning: while this looks good, it does not read PDFs. So fail for now.
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Rudy said 10:03PM on 5-24-2009
this isnt about being cheap, this is about being practical. that app is soooo not worth $10.
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Scott R said 12:19AM on 5-25-2009
You may well be right. In the end, though, it's just your opinion -- which is of no value if you haven't actually used the app.
PK said 12:10AM on 5-25-2009
I'm glad it was approved; the rejection made Apple look ridiculous and petty and really just plain stupid.
That said, the app certainly seems to be priced outside of market bounds (i.e., comparable apps). I have eReader and Stanza already and so I won't even consider purchasing Eucalyptus. If it were $1 or $2, I might. Will they obtain a tenth of the purchases they'd get if the app were $1? I doubt it. Relatively few apps overall cost as much as $10. Marketing 101, folks...
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kakapo said 12:27AM on 5-25-2009
It's $12.99 here in Oz and all of the pages are upside down!
I do like it better than Stanza, so I will give it a go.
I mean let's look at reality - 20,000 books for $12.99 - not a bad deal!
Plus all the freebie coupons..
And it is two double-doubles with fries... So, you will saving your heart, too.
Cheers, Mates!
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Drunken Economist said 1:15AM on 5-25-2009
Funny, all the freetards come out against this app without going to the website and looking it over.
So you got Classics. You read Jungle Book. How're you gonna read Jungle Book 2? Tarzan? Pellucidar?
For the price of a couple paperbacks, or a couple Starbucks, this author has made something as elegant as Classics. For ALL of the Gutenburg texts.
What this app DOES with the texts with the formatting is NOT EASY. Trust me, I dabble in programming and it's quite a feat. This is NOT a cheap app, but an elegant piece of ware that you should pay for.
Yeah, I have Stanza too, and it's NOT that good. Jumbled/ gibberish text, mediocre user interface, I tried reading some Gutenburg texts on it but... it was tedious.
Pay for good programming and UI. Or be a freetard. The choice is yours.
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PK said 1:44AM on 5-25-2009
Um, thanks for calling me a "freetard". And yes, I did go to the website and look it over. My comments pertained to simple market economics. MP3s or AAC files aren't as good as CDs, yet they took the market by storm because they were "good enough". People who charge premium prices have to have a *vastly* superior product. Since Apple doesn't have a "try it out" mode for apps, we can't test drive Eucalyptus and see the potential advantages for ourselves; I don't see anything (yes, on the website) that will move me to take a $10 gamble for what looks like Yet Another Gutenberg reader with a couple of snazzy special effects. I guess I'm just a freetard.
George said 2:37AM on 5-25-2009
I have to agree with @PK -- while Eucalyptus does indeed look like they put some serious work into the app, reading a bunch of classics gets old real quick. I am a voracious reader and rarely touch Stanza just due to the limited content. Paying $10 to do so (with some style) is not for everyone.
Is it worth $10? Maybe/probably. Will the bulk of potential customers buy this app for $10? I doubt it. If we could test drive, or there was a "lite" version, maybe I would be swayed. But with the limited selection of content paired with a relatively (to the App Store) expensive price point, I think this app is a niche product. Add BYO text/docs/books to the mix and perhaps the snazzy UI might make it compelling, but in the meantime it's a pricey proof-of-concept app.
My guess? The dev hopes to be bought out by Amazon for the Kindle iPhone app. And I hope that happens.