Apple alters single rule that could have killed thousands of small-biz apps
APPLE has revised an App Store guideline that was designed to curb spam apps, but instead threatened to wipe out thousands of apps for local restaurants, churches and other small businesses.
The policy change, and the controversy surrounding it, illustrate just how much power Apple and its guidelines have over the US$143 billion (RM586 billion) app market.
Apple’s original rule was introduced in June and unilaterally banned apps made from a template – a technique some developers use to churn out low-quality apps that clog up the store and aren’t worth a download. But the rule, which was set to go into effect in January, also ended up catching legitimate developers that help small companies without development resources make their own apps.
That includes developers such as those at ChowNow, a Los Angeles-based company that’s worked behind the scenes with 9,000 restaurants across the US to develop their own apps.
ChowNow didn’t think Apple was trying to kill small business apps, said chief executive Chris Webb. But, he said, Apple had clearly not thought through the consequences of its action. “It’s easy to make a change and not realise the fallout from that change,” he said.
Webb said ChowNow spoke with Apple for “months” about changing the policy, and the app developer led the charge against Apple’s policy change – eventually enlisting the help of Congress.
The combination of pressure from developers and Congress appears to have had an effect. Apple this week made some exceptions to its rule, saying that apps made from templates could be on the store – as long as the company or group represented by the app was also the one submitting it. — Washington Post