Text Size

Internation distribution of iPhone apps broken?

updated 11:10 am EDT, Wed May 27, 2009

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.

 
Previous Comments

bug report

05/27, 11:23am reply

it's what it's for...

sixcolors

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

0

iTunes Connect is broken

05/27, 12:17pm reply

I'm not surprised. The iTunes Connect team is horrible. If you have any problems other than changing your bank account info, you basically can't reach them. Even ADC can only email the iTC team - they have no phone number for internally contacting iTC. I have two apps approved that I can't sell because iTC hasn't finished my "contracts" yet. I've been waiting almost 3 months. I've been in touch with a couple of developers who have been waiting over 6 months! Plus iTC rejects apps for bogus reasons. I've heard of several getting rejected for using "unsupported" API's even though the API in question is actually public and supported and supposed to be used by developers. The iTunes Connect team is a mess!

aiki

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2009

0

internation distribution

05/27, 01:43pm reply

"Internation distribution of iPhone apps broken?"

Title of article broken?

lurkerdude

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

+2

Popular News