Flawed iPhone app system

The international distribution of iPhone applications is not being handled properly at the App Store, one developer tells MacNN. Having launched a title called CameraUFO, Magno Urbano says he recently visited the US App Store to verify if his software was on sale. Although not at its main intended venue, the app could be found at a number foreign stores, though still not all of them.

A similar problem is said to exist for several of Urbano's older titles, such as GhostCamera, indicating that the issue is not only a matter of slow propagation. Of the developer's 17 total apps, five are said to disappear when switching to the Chinese or Brazilian stores, even though some of them date back to 2008. The missing apps also fail to appear in direct searches, suggesting that they do not occur at all in some App Store databases.

Although Urbano claims to have reported the inconsistencies to Apple, he argues that many developers could be losing substantial amounts of revenue. "I hope they can solve this soon," he adds.

by MacNN Staff