iPhone App store issues

Much has been written over the last 12 months about the Apple App Store and the way in which it has changed for ever the manner in which software for smartphones and the like will be sold and delivered. Microsoft, Blackberry, Palm and Android have all now copied the concept, and potentially it is a huge market for all of them.

On the face of it the system is very slick and works well for the user. Applications on the Apple store are VERY cheap (compared to the pocket PC market and other markets) – the mass of apps has driven values down – good for the user, but not good for the developers. Consequently there is a dearth of very poor and pointless apps (ifart for example) and very few real quality apps that add value and useability to the unit they are down loaded onto.

This has caused problems for the long term ‘quality software developers’ who have high development costs to recover, consequently Apple are in danger of driving away the real quality apps from their OS – which would be a major long term issue for them.

Recently one of the major issues for developers (and users) has been the time taken to approve apps by Apple. Up to a month is now quite normal, so developers have to wait even to get a basic bug fix through the system. Not good and unfortunately a classic example of Apples over protective nature. This is not an issue with the other platform stores as far as I can tell.

Over the last few days I have personally suffered from this issue. I use a fantastic app called eWallet from Ilium Software. This is a password manager that allows me to keep all my passwords, banking details, infact my life, fully secure (military level encription) on my iphone and synchronised to my PC. Well I could until Friday when it all got blown out of the water by Apple.

Ilium had an update in with Apple for approval, they expected it to take 4 weeks to approve (not unreasonable given recent experience). They had a desktop update for PC to put up on their site (which was needed to continue the sync) and planned that for 1st December, this would be up well in advance of Apples approval. BUT Apple approved the iPhone app in four DAYS rather than weeks.

Now as Apple users will be aware all apps on the iPhone come up automatically for update, you click update all and they update – simple!

But, in doing this with eWallet I unwittingly killed my ability to sync to my PC. I had a problem! Ilium were caught out and started to get lots of bad press for ‘their’ problem of not having the new release on their website for PC. But was it really their problem?

Initially they blamed Apple – bad idea! Their users turned on them in a frightening way! A real example of the customer is always right! They have now accepted the matter is in their hands to resolve and will sort out issues for their customers as swiftly as they can. But this really highlights the need for companies to think on their feet and really think before they react as it is so easy to alienate your customer base but much more difficult to bring them back!

In this instance I believe Ilium will manage to recover from this but it was a close call! A lesson for us all!