
Want to Fool Apple’s App Store? Plant an Easter Egg - jmonegro
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/appstoreeasteregg
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pxlpshr
About 3 months ago when we made a novelty app that turned your phone into a
massager, it was originally called "Happy Ending". They rejected it for the
sexual innuendo so we changed the name to Pocket Massage (lol), which was
consistent with an exercise app we made called Pocket Workout.

Long story short, we tried leaving the Happy Ending name in japanese and in
tiny detail on the app icon but it was rejected again. Certainly not the same
as a well hidden easter egg, but I was surprised they took the time to
translate the small details considering some of things that have made it
through.

~~~
PanMan
Wasn't it still rejected because you aren't allowed to use vibrate for a
prolonged time? (not sure where I read that, but I did).

~~~
pxlpshr
I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case pre-December 2008. In December,
Apple lifted the gate on farting apps for all the flack it was receiving for
rejecting them. Around the same time about ~6 massage apps landed on the
store.

AppStore Mkting Hint: We toggle our massage app between FREE and .99, it's a
great little promotional tool. Every time we switch back to free, all the
Twitter bots and web tracking services pickup the price decrease and we get a
massive influx of downloads and web traffic.

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madair
The number one take away from this, for those who didn't know, is that Apple
disallowed an application that displays lyrics, just because some lyrics
contain profanity.

Yeah.

This is a significant abuse of corporate gatekeeping power. Why are people
accepting this? Are the majority of people that lethargic so as to ignore such
significant limits on their ability to use and create content and applications
for devices?

Would it be acceptable if Apple just out and out banned the music that
contains the profanities? That's pretty close to what they are doing. I'm
really struggling here to understand how people lie down and take this.

Loss of freedom in the name of commerce is disgusting, despicable, and most
importantly, unethical, and needs to be stopped.

~~~
asciilifeform
> Why are people accepting this?

Because Apple _has no competition._ At least, not in the smart-phone market.
It has "competition" - pseudo-rivals who manufacture absolute crap, which is
more often than not a slavish (and poor) imitation of Apple products.

Anyone who insists on a well-designed, consistent user interface is currently
at Apple's mercy.

~~~
madair
The familiar "only the market can resolve this" viewpoint.

Regulation is also a powerful tool for resolving issues like this. The usual
tripe about profits suffering and everything made worse can now be cued up and
played...now!

~~~
asciilifeform
I'm not sure exactly how regulators could force non-Apple smartphone makers to
produce non-junk. Or should Apple be nationalized and turned into a government
bureaucracy? That hasn't worked well historically, either.

~~~
madair
No, it's nothing about forcing production of new devices. It's simply about
rejecting constraints on the legal software that may run on those devices.

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asciilifeform
This is a monumentally-stupid idea.

Do you want people to actually _use_ your app's functionality? If and when
they start, and word spreads, Apple will delete your app. Given their history,
they might not even pay you what you're owed. All of your efforts will have
been wasted.

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plusbryan
Great. Now Apple's going to take even longer to approve my apps. Thanks jerks.

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axod
I'm still surprised Apple went down the app-store road myself. A big strategic
mistake IMHO.

Does anyone else just see it as a stop gap fad until we have free wifi all
over the globe?

~~~
jcl
I doubt it. Steam does pretty well on PCs, and one could argue that the Ubuntu
(or other Linux) ecosystem is a successful "centralized moderated software
collection". If anything, I think we'll see a growth of App Store-like systems
on other platforms. I'm a little surprised Microsoft and Apple haven't tried
to roll something like this to their desktops yet.

~~~
halo
Microsoft included Digital Locker with Vista allowing you to purchase
applications from 3rd parties via Windows Marketplace, but it has since
shutdown, presumably due to lack of popularity.

