Are your favorite apps crashing or not working correctly after you updated to iPhone 3.0 yesterday? It is very likely the author has already submitted an update to the application, and now it is sitting in Apple’s review process waiting for the reviewers to go through the application with a fine tooth comb to see if any of a thousand things fail on their checklist.
What might fail? One developer told me his update for 3.0 was rejected because he had his technical support/pre-purchase sales phone number in the description on the AppStore. Apple had him remove it, but after 3 days it still hasn’t been approved.
I’ve been answering dozens of emails today about PocketMoney 2.2.1 not working under 3.0. All I can tell customers is that the 3.0 bugs are fixed in PocketMoney version 2.3, the application is in Apple’s review process, and it might be approved in the next one-two weeks, but if Apple rejects it, then typically the 1-2 week process will start over again from the beginning.
Now 1-2 weeks might not be terrible if the application is in the entertainment or game categories, so the user won’t be able to play a game for a week. It’s not a big deal, but users trust PocketMoney with their financial data on a daily basis and for a critical application to be delayed is a major issue.
Apple listens to customer feedback and if they have thousands of customers complaining about the time it takes for applications to be reviewed, then maybe, just maybe Apple might fix their system. (Here is an interesting post on a session at developers conference about AppStore.)
If you want to do something proactive about this issue, then here is the link to the AppStore feedback:
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/browser/
I’d suggest picking “Purchase(s)” > “Already Owned” and following the steps to file a request for speeding up the applications review time. This might have the benefit of letting Apple prioritize which applications they should fast track through their review process, even if they don’t speed up their overall process.
[PS: While not as specific as the above link, you can also leave general feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html]
- Hardy