A software company could potentially lose more than half a million dollars because of an iPhone app that Apple has ignored for six months.
Eric Thomas, CEO of FreedomVoice Systems, told staff this week that the company is ceasing indefinitely any work on an iPhone voice app, called Newber, because Apple will neither accept it nor reject it. FreedomVoice has so far invested $600,000 and more than half a year in the app.
"We followed all guidelines set by Apple throughout the development process and have never received comment from Apple as to why the Newber application has still not even been reviewed," Thomas wrote in a letter to FreedomVoice staff, provided to Wired.com. "Steve Jobs hailed the App Store as, 'the best deal going to distribute applications to mobile platforms.' Our experience is that it is the worst deal going."
With more than 25,000 applications available, the iPhone App Store has attracted a horde of developers with dreams of striking it rich with their apps. Some have done very well: One of the largest success stories to date involves Ethan Nicholas, an independent developer who made $600,000 in just one month with his iPhone game iShoot.
However, there's an ugly side to the App Store as well — the developers whose apps are rejected for unclear reasons, or simply ignored. Apple claimed this week that it has approved 96 percent of applications submitted to its application store, but the company has been heavily criticized for poor communication with developers. Even after apps are approved, Apple often does not tell developers when their applications will launch, keeping them guessing until the moment the app appears in Apple's store.
While a lack of communication is merely annoying to an independent coder, the consequences are far greater for a larger company like FreedomVoice, Thomas said. He explained that even though the app still hadn't been approved, the company had to continue paying for marketing in anticipation of the app's release. For example, the company invested about $50,000 to exhibit its service at CES. Marketing efforts combined with the costs of engineering the app amounted to over $600,000 spent on the project thus far, according to Thomas.
"It's kind of annoying in a down market that we're spending money on something we can't get approved," he said.
FreedomVoice made many attempts to establish communication with Apple on the status of the app, Thomas said. At one point, FreedomVoice's marketing team even tried calling Apple from different phone numbers just to get through — to no avail, he said.
Apple did not return several phone calls from Wired.com, requesting comment on this story.
Thomas stated his belief that Apple's silence toward his app is a conscious effort, because after submitting Newber his company submitted another app called FreedomIQ Voicemail — which appeared in the App Store just a month later.
So what's Newber anyway? It's an app that effectively turns your iPhone into a second phone line by utilizing the handset's geographic awareness to move calls between devices, Thomas explained.
Here's an example of how you'd use it: You're walking to your office and your iPhone starts ringing. You're still having that conversation as you arrive at your desk and sit down. With the Newber app you'd be able to press a button on the iPhone, your office phone would ring, and you'd be able to pick up your office phone and immediately resume that same phone call. FreedomVoice was planning to charge a monthly rate of $5 for the service.
Thomas said he made his letter to staff public because he just wants Apple to give him a yes, no or an explanation for the delay.
"We just want to get Apple to have the social conscience to have a conversation," Thomas said. "They can even tell me no."
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