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Google voice application maker fumes at Apple

by on31 July 2009

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Apple fanboy gutted

A self
confessed “Apple Fanboy” said he is gutted by the fact that Steve Jobs has yanked his Google Voice related software from its App Store.

Kevin Duerr, the chief executive of Riverturn, said he was “knocked to the core" when an Apple representative told him that his application that let iPhone users log in to the Google Voice service, had been removed from the App Store. The reason was that Steve felt that VoiceCentral "duplicated features of the iPhone" and refused to tell him what his developers could change to meet Apple's requirements. In fact he would not even tell Duerr what features of the app were duplicates.

VoiceCentral was approved by Apple for the App Store in late April, and although it had not sold in large numbers, sales had been on an upswing in the last few weeks, Duerr said. For some reason Duerr believed that if he got through to someone in Apple, the outfit would “actually talk to him”. A typical fanboy he believed that the company was actually reasonable. Er, no it isn't. And no they have not returned his calls.

Apple makes a fortune on the back of iPhone developers who flog stuff through their App store. However it does have a problem in thinking that they are fanboys who will do what they are told rather than people who are out to make a bit of cash. In his blog Duerr said he knew it was Apple, and they love their shroud of secrecy, but he didn't understand it in this line of business.

"What's the harm in telling developers why an app has been rejected or pulled from the App Store? Other than the volume of apps that are submitted, I don't see the problem with taking action.”

He now says that the iPhone platform is probably not worth supporting. It would be difficult for him to authorise spending money on iPhone development when it can be yanked on the whim of Apple with no explanation. To make matters worse, Apple is now giving refunds to people who bought the software because not it does not work. The software does work but Apple has yanked it.

Not surprisingly Apple is saying nothing about Duerr's claims.
Last modified on 31 July 2009
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