We’ve been getting a lot of emails today asking why we’re not on the newly launched Mac App Store. I want to answer this question as clearly and concisely as possible: I have no frickin’ idea.
We submitted Home Inventory to the Mac App Store on November 3rd of last year. It was approved on November 19th and then, for some bizarre reason, was kicked back to the “In Review” status on December 7th, where it remained. We’d tried contacting Apple to find out what was going onbut never heard back. It appears the same thing has happened to other developers as well and, as with us, it seems their questions to Apple about the matter have also gone unanswered.
The Mac App Store is a great idea and I understand that glitches come along with the launch of a new product. I really do get that. But what I don’t get, and what I find totally inexcusable, is Apple not responding to developers about this problem. We have no idea why some apps wound up back in review after being approved. Was it a glitch in the system? A policy change that required apps approved before a certain date to be re-reviewed? Should we continue to be patient and wait, even though apps submitted over a month after our initial approval are already available for sale on the store? Is our app stuck in some sort of limbo and needs to be re-submitted? We don’t know because Apple won’t tell us.
Am I angry? You bet. This is my livelihood. I make my living from writing and selling software. Not being a part of the launch is disheartening. Lacking any clarity from Apple, I think it’s best to assume there was some kind of glitch and Home Inventory was left in the App Store version of limbo. I rejected the app myself just a bit ago and will resubmit at a later date.