Apple Rejecting White-Labeled Apps

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I had a very interesting experience with the Apple Review team today that is worth sharing. Apparently they are rejecting apps that have branding that differs than that of the “Seller”. This is somewhat of a problem if you’re trying to white-label apps and planned to publish those apps under one single account.

“To be appropriate for the App Store, your app must be published under a Seller name and Artist name that reflects the [redacted] brand, as required by the iOS Developer Program License Agreement.

Section 1.2:
“You” and “Your” means and refers to the person(s) or legal entity (whether the company, organization, educational institution, or governmental agency, instrumentality, or department) using the Apple Software or otherwise exercising rights under this Agreement. For the sake of clarity, You may authorize contractors to develop Applications on Your behalf, but any such Applications must be submitted under Your developer account.

If you have published these apps on behalf of a client, it would be appropriate for your client to enroll in the iOS Developer Program, then add you to their development team so you can develop an app for them to submit under their developer account.”

So if you’re planning on creating a series of white-labeled apps for different clients under one umbrella account you better think twice. You’ll need your clients to create their own developer account then add your development team to their account. It’s not the end of the world but something to be aware of.

Developeronomics

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2011/12/05/the-rise-of-developeronomics/

“At the moment, the only thing potentially more valuable than a relationship with a great developer is a relationship with a survivalist who is good with things like guns, bunkers and cabins in woods (that’s in case the apocalypse does come about in 2012, with bullets for currency). Which you think is the better bet depends on exactly how gloomy and bearish you are. I am pretty gloomy, but not yet gloomy enough to turn to survivalist capital investments.”

Great (long) read on the importance of developers in our modern age.

Why you should join @path.

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First off, as an iOS Developer, I think Path’s UI is the slickest interface implementation I have seen in a LONG time. It’s snappy, quick, and very refreshing. Needless to say, it instantly graduated to my home screen in a prime real estate position. If you’re OCD about your iOS home screen, you know what I’m talking about.

Any time I open Path, I feel as if I’m leaving the clutter of Facebook, Twitter, and G+ behind. While it might be due to the fact that a good portion of my friends are not on it yet (I don’t know what you guys are waiting for), there is something about the UI that keeps everything pretty clean and easy to navigate. They also have a model that only lets you connect with up to 150 people.

“We are inspired by Professor Robin Dunbar from Oxford University, whose research delves deeply into the number of trusted relationships humans can maintain throughout life. We tend to have 5 best friends, 15 good friends, 50 close friends and family, and 150 total friends. At Path, we’re building tools for you to share with the people who matter most in your life.”

A company with a philosophy and a solid product to back it up. I love that.

It’s also very refreshing to see a startup that is able to get their act together. About a year ago, I signed up for Path and my only post was “This site sucks” or something to that extent. And it did. One of the top questions on Get Satisfaction was titled “I don’t know what to do” and it was true. Upon first signing in on the earlier version of Path a year ago, it was not clear to anyone what the purpose of the app was at all. Even the website greeted you to a pretty bare and empty home screen.

All this has changed. Path is now a serious contender in the social web world. I urge you to join Path and keep your eyes on them going forward as it seems like they’ve built a company and product centered deeply on the user experience.

http://path.com

Check out the demo videos below:

Path – Introducing Path 2 from Path on Vimeo.

Path – Share Life from Path on Vimeo.

Planned Parenthood: Siri Sucks. Humans are Better.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/what-siris-blind-spot-on_b_1125377.html

“It’s fully accessible on mobile devices, and it won’t mislead you about where to find the health services you need. The humans who manage it make sure of that.”

The above quote is from Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Perhaps a little passive aggressive? Siri hasn’t mislead anyone and it’s a bit silly to call Siri’s lack of information on abortion clinics a “programming glitch”. It’s not a glitch. Sometimes Siri’s vocabulary and knowledge just doesn’t cover the question being asked and while Apple has touted Siri as your personal assistant it’s obvious to most people that Siri can’t do everything. If you depend on Siri to help you navigate complicated life issues, then there is something wrong with you. Siri is a novelty.

There are plenty of things Siri doesn’t know the answer to and some things it just likes to have fun with. Skynet will be here before we know it and will be begging again for the days when Siri didn’t even know where the nearest abortion clinic was located.

Hide your developers. Facebook is coming to NYC.

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Everyone knows by now that NYC is quickly becoming a hot bed for upcoming and innovating new technology. Lots of startups have flocked to NYC in the past few years and major (west coast based) companies who have opened wings of their companies in town. If you’re involved in the NYC startup tech scene you probably already know that finding top tier engineering talent can often be very difficult. This is partly due to the fact that there are several existing industries that already greatly absorb the existing engineering talent. Finance, advertising, and big media/ digital agencies recruit a good majority of the engineering talent in NYC. So it’s no surprise that small startups can sometimes have a difficult time recruiting and retaining this talent. With another big company like Facebook coming to town, a company that can afford to hire “thousands of engineers”, I believe we’ll see a bigger strain on the talent pool available to startups in NYC.

For more info on Facebook’s new office announcement:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-to-open-engineering-office-in-new-york-city-in-2012-2011-12-02